Effects of Mentorship on Teacher Classroom Preparedness at the Secondary Level

The purpose of this study was to see what effect a teacher mentorship program would have on teacher’s classroom preparedness at a public Middle and High school in the rural Midwest. Twelve teachers participated in the six-week study; six were mentors, the other six mentees. All teachers completed a self-evaluation at the beginning of the study. In the first week, teachers were interviewed regarding aspects of the mentorship program and how it had affected their level of preparedness for the classroom. During the study, mentees filled out time sheets recording how much time they were spending outside of the school day preparing lessons. At the end of the six weeks, teachers completed another self-evaluation and interview. The study results suggest that teacher mentorship does have a small effect on preparing new teachers. Teachers in the study expressed that the program was helpful in their development as a teacher. The results of this study bring up other possibilities of research including, investigating the impact of the mentor-mentee relationship as well as, helping school districts develop better-structured mentorship programs to support the development of skilled teachers. Keywords: mentorship, teacher, education, preparednes