2.1 Mentors’ views of factors essential for the success of beginning  (Page 9/11)

Expectations of my responsibilities as a mentor should be explained.

Mentors would have felt more appreciated from their school if administrators had scheduled more formal meetings. They would have liked more time to review classroom management, grading policies and procedures, and more time for planning effective lessons. Mentors responded that better communication between the new teacher, administrators, and the mentor was needed for the teacher-mentoring program.

Finally, mentors were“encouraged to contribute additional comments on the current teacher-mentoring program at your school.”The following additional comments were made:

There was a time when mentors had the time to help the new teachers. New teachers were allowed a few years to improve. Now with the state measures school accountability through TAKS scores, it has become difficult to help new teachers with no experience. New teachers who have low TAKS scores from their students are at risk of not getting their contract renewed. The state testing has hurt our schools. Schools do not have the time to nurture a new teacher.

I have trained over 24 student teachers in my 27 years of teaching experience. My administrators are highly competent and allow me to take charge of new teachers. I was allowed to train new teachers on PDAS evaluation with my administrators providing support.

There was a lack of administrative support, resource materials, and no curriculum guide or explanation of what was expected of me as a mentor.

District administrators should meet regularly with mentor and mentee to discuss progress, setbacks, and concerns.

Alternative certification program was confusing with multiple requirements and too much paperwork.

Mentors added that state testing had harmed their schools. Administrators are too concerned with state exam scores and have little time to support new teachers. According to mentors, new teachers are at risk of not getting their contracts renewed if their students have low TAKS scores. Other mentors added comments and stated that there was a lack of administrative support, resource materials, and no curriculum guide or explanations of what was expected of the mentor. Mentors reported that district administrators should meet regularly with mentors and mentees to discuss progress, setbacks, and concerns.

Discussion

Mentor teachers responded to questions regarding four factors: teacher involvement/support; staff development; administrator support; and resource materials. On the factor of teacher involvement/support, almost all of the mentor teachers believed a teacher-mentoring program with well-defined goals was absolutely essential to retain beginning teachers. On the factor of staff development, slightly more than half of the mentor teachers considered that staff development that provided strategies to serve students in special populations better was absolutely essential to the retention of beginning teachers. Concerning administrator support, slightly more than half of the mentor teachers believed that mentors needed to have their duties and responsibilities in the mentoring program to be absolutely essential for the retention of beginning teachers. Regarding resource materials, almost three-fourths of the mentor teachers deemed that requirements for a teacher certificate as an educator had to have been completed to be absolutely essential to retain beginning teachers.