Abstract:
New teachers, or those within their first 5 years of teaching, have an attrition rate of 40% compared to the experienced teacher attrition rate of 8% (NCES, 2012; Taie & Goldring, 2020). Induction programs with organizational supports for novice teachers are in many districts, it is important to conduct program evaluations to review the perceived helpfulness of the programs (Davis & Higdon, 2008). The purposes of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study are to determine (a) the fidelity to which the district induction program was implemented, (b) which components of the district induction program novice teachers describe as most useful to their professional growth, and (c) the ways in which the district mentoring process was useful to novice teachers’ professional growth. Participants were 33 novice teachers in one Middle Tennessee school district during the 2018–2019, 2019–2020, and 2020–2021 school years. Most participants identified as White, non-Hispanic (n = 30), 21–25 years old (n = 18), and attended a traditional 4-year teacher preparation program (n = 20). Thirty-three novice teachers completed Likert-type surveys, which were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Five participants completed semistructured interviews, which were analyzed manually using thematic coding. Findings indicated that attendance at the novice teacher induction program was inconsistent, due to unclear administration expectations, timing and location of meetings, and late hiring dates. Participants spoke about the induction program and district-assigned mentors related to classroom management, lesson planning, expectations of administration, and the role of mentor. Implications for research include investigating differing perceptions and needs of traditional certification and alternative certification teachers, the correlation between program attendance and teacher attrition, and effective novice teacher supports in rural or fringe districts. Implications for practice include training mentors on constructive feedback and the use of the evaluation system, updating program content annually based on participant feedback, providing late hires and conflicting work schedules alternate ways to receive program content, and having consistent expectations from the district and school-based administration regarding program attendance.
Keywords: novice teachers, teacher induction, mentoring, professional growth, program evaluation
