Mentor/protégé interactions and the role of mentor training within a novice teacher mentoring program

Many individuals transition into teaching positions without the benefit of effective professional mentoring. This study was conducted to better understand the interactions in which mentors and protégés engage and to inform future design of mentor support for novice teachers. The research examined mentor/protégé interactions within a year long novice teacher mentoring program. It sought to learn what influenced mentors' work with protégés and how protégés perceived the mentoring experience as part of their professional growth. It investigated mentors' perceptions of structured mentor training facilitated by the New Teacher Center (NTC) and the one-on-one support received by protégés. The study investigated whether the mentoring interactions incorporated the content and skills addressed in the mentor training and whether protégés reported the content and skills as influential on their teacher practices. Few specifics regarding elements of mentor professional development and protégés' reported experiences were identified in the literature. The study design implemented a mixed methodology. Qualitative data were analyzed from three sources: mentor and protégé interviews from one Oregon mentoring project during 2008-2009, protégé course responses from a mentoring project university partner, and mentor and protégé open-ended responses from surveys distributed by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to all eleven mentoring project participants statewide. The quantitative portion of the study centered on secondary data provided to the researcher by ODE which was generated from NTC designed mentor and protégé surveys. Descriptive and correlation analyses were conducted on the closed responses from the statewide mentor and protégé surveys. Results indicated mentor/protégé interactions were framed by the NTC training content which mentors implemented with a high degree of fidelity. A relationship was identified between exposure to the content and skills addressed within the mentor training and protégés’ sense of teacher efficacy and mentoring program value. The study offers implications and recommendations for various levels of educational leaders and program design elements including structure, mentor training, and mentor roles