TDNet Discover

The purpose of this research study is to show a need for an intentional and structured mentoring program for novice teachers at a rural Michigan charter school. For the utility of this study, the intentional and structured mentoring program will be generally defined as mentoring. The theory guiding this study is Knowles’s theory on andragogy as it focuses on how adults learn, the act of mentoring is teaching, thereby providing a direct connection between andragogy and mentoring. Novice teachers are adults who will be expected to learn from their experienced mentors. The study will use a mixed-methods approach to gather data from surveys, interviews, observations, and school records, which will be analyzed separately and then integrated to answer the question of how the lack of a mentor program may affect novice teachers at an impoverished charter school in rural northern Michigan. Data will be sorted by tabulating Likert scale survey responses and recording numeric scores from records for quantitative data. Qualitative data will result from interviews with novices, mentors, and leaders. The anticipated results of the study will show the need for a quality mentoring program for novice teachers.