Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Dr. David Bangs

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of novice teachers and mentors concerning the Arkansas model of mentoring. The independent variables of roles of the teachers (mentor teacher versus novice teacher) and gender (male versus female) were compared among the dependent variable for the overall score and its component parts that measured attitudes represented by scores related to activities, funding, time, and use of Pathwise®. A sample of teachers in Arkansas public schools who were employed as novice teachers (n = 160) or as mentors (n = 158) who have been involved in the process as outlined by the Arkansas Department of Education-Office of Teacher Quality was surveyed. A review of the literature identified the various aspects of effective mentoring programs, as well as, the details of the Arkansas model of mentoring.

The researcher used a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA to test for interaction effects as well as the main effects of each hypothesis. To test the hypotheses, the researcher used a Bonferroni adjusted alpha of .01 level of significance. Since there was no significant interaction between the variables of gender and role, the main effect of each variable was examined separately. Results indicated that for the compiled or overall score on the survey questionnaire the main effect for gender was significant, F(1, 313) = 11.252, p = .001, ES = .035. For the funding score, the main effect for role was significant, F (1, 313) = 15.598, p = .000, ES = .047. Finally, for the Pathwise® score, the main effect for gender was significant, F (1, 313) = 7.050, p = .008, ES = .022.

Findings of the study were consistent with the literature in terms of teachers’ perceptions related to mentoring in general. The study did indicate that in relation to mentoring overall, females ranked items on the survey higher than their male counterparts did. In the scores related to the use of Pathwise® as a model for mentoring, females again ranked items on the survey higher than their male counterparts. Another difference was noted between novices and mentors in the area of funding where novices ranked items higher than did mentors.

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