Increasing Practitioner Capacity and Retention in Rural Districts

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Mentorship of Preservice and Novice Teachers in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

This study investigated the practices of practitioner teachers, first-year teachers without a degree in education, and the perceptions they held of the mentoring they had been offered in comparison to their mentoring and support needs. The demand for this study and resulting plan for support was established by the number of practitioner teachers who used vague reasons to leave the profession of education in their first three years of service. The study focused on three primary areas: 1) the difficulties experienced by practitioner teachers, 2) their descriptions of an ideal mentoring program, and 3) the effects of a more comprehensive mentoring plan for both the practitioner teachers and stakeholders in their communities.

Author

• Mary Christine Boyte, University of Louisiana at Monroe