Identifying Quality Mentoring Based on New Teacher Perceptions of Professional Development

Despite the fact that new teacher mentoring had its inception in the late 1960\u27s and is currently mandated in schools and districts across the country, there are still questions as to whether effectiveness has been obtained (Keay, 2007). Stewart (2004) arrived at a definition of quality mentoring based on five areas of support (i.e., Personal Support, Classroom Support, Professional Support, Evaluative Support, and Reflective Support), and her research provides definition to the kind of support that mentees desire and need. The purpose of this study was to examine an existing survey that was designed for a large urban district\u27s evaluation of a grant-funded teacher-mentoring program (i.e., the New Teacher Support Program). The researcher coded the existing program evaluation survey according to Stewart\u27s categories, and this process identified the presence of research-based categories within the existing evaluation of a mentoring program. The researcher then analyzed the results from the two groups of new teachers involved in this study, the New Teacher Support Program participants (NTSP) and the Non-New Teacher Support Program participants (Non-NTSP), to understand which components of mentoring were the most important to the mentees based on their perceptions. The findings from this study were that all survey respondents perceived that they received support from their mentors. All survey respondents perceived more support in the Personal Support category, followed very closely by the categories of Professional Support, Classroom Support and Reflective Support. The existing survey contained items that corresponded to all of Stewart\u27s categories except Evaluative Support. There were differences between the responses of the two groups (i.e., the NTSP and non-NTSP participants) especially in the category of Reflective support. There was also evidence that the mentees used the support received from their mentors to adjust their instructional practices. The findings demonstrate that the new teachers in one urban school district did perceive support from having a mentor. More research should be conducted regarding how support from mentors translates into improved instruction and student outcomes