Mentoring and Retention of First and Second Year Teachers in North Dakota Public Schools

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of three types of mentoring experiences on the retention of first and second year public school teachers in North Dakota. Another purpose of the study was to investigate whether differences existed among first and second year public school teachers with regard to demographic variables that included ethnicity, gender, years of experience, school district size, and three different types of mentoring experiences: formal, informal, or no mentorship. The study surveyed 159 first and second year teachers in North Dakota with regard to their perceptions about the mentoring process they experienced. Results of the study indicated that having a mentor in their own building or simply having a mentor were vital sources of support. Survey respondents also strongly agreed that gender differences between a mentor and mcntec did not pose a major barrier. One Way Analysis of Variance was used to determine whether there were significant differences among the mentoring conditions of the formal, informal and no mentorship groups. The post hoc tests revealed significant differences between novice teachers in each of the three types of mentorship experiences and between the smallest and largest school districts included in the study