Date on Capstone

12-2018

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Ed. D.

Degree Program

Educational Leadership and Organizational Development, EDD

Committee Chair

Brydon-Miller, Mary

Committee Member

Johnson, Detra

Committee Member

Buecker, Harrie

Committee Member

Munoz, Marco

Author's Keywords

mentor; mentee; mentoring; poverty; urban; low-achieving

Abstract

This capstone intends to seek a teacher’s perspective on the effectiveness of school-based mentorship in a high-poverty, low-performing school setting. The first study investigates the perspectives of new teachers, while the second study focuses on the perspectives of the mentor teachers. When new teachers complete the undergraduate program, they become certified teachers but have never actually had the opportunity to be alone in a classroom with up to thirty students. New teachers are often prepared to teach the curriculum but unprepared for the student behavior and classroom management. Furthermore, teachers may be assigned a mentor, but the mentor may lack the skills to offer quality mentorship catered to the teacher’s needs. Five mentor teachers and six new teachers from two high poverty high schools located in an urban school district participated in this action research study. The new teachers have been employed less than five years and the mentor teachers have been employed 5 or more years. This study incorporates the Critical Utopian Action Research and Future Creating Workshop method with the intent of improving educational outcomes and inequality for students, while increasing accountability to the schools and district through the request of a school-based mentorship program. The participants determined that teaching in a high poverty school is challenging work. New teachers need a school-based mentoring program with activities that support teachers who teach students in poverty. As part of this research, a school-based mentoring program was written to include the themes identified by participants. Mentoring is a partnership that could benefit the mentee, mentor, school, and district while supporting a new teacher in the early years of teaching when they need it most.

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