Fostering the Success of New Teachers: Developing Lead Teachers in a Statewide Teacher Mentoring Program

Authors

  • Andrea M. Kent University of South Alabama
  • Andre M. Green University of South Alabama
  • Phillip Feldman University of South Alabama

Keywords:

mentoring, mentors, professional development, induction, mentoring programs, global mentoring, new teachers, effective mentoring

Abstract

Though there may be many reasons for teacher attrition and mobility, results from a recent survey conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) suggest that an exceedingly high percentage of teachers who abandoned their careers as teachers may have entered the teaching profession under-prepared, overwhelmed, and under-supported — resulting in frustrated teachers who became burned out after only a few years of teaching (Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Stitzek, & Morton, 2006). Global research documents that mentoring must be emphasized if teachers are going to experience success during the induction phase of their career and become more likely to remain in the profession. Developing teacher leaders that have the dispositions to mentor, such as those in the Alabama Teacher Mentor Program, can help meet these challenges as teachers lead teachers through mentoring. The manuscript presents an overview and impact of a statewide mentoring initiative that embraces one role of teacher leaders. 

 

Author Biographies

Andrea M. Kent, University of South Alabama

Andre M. Green, University of South Alabama

Dr. Andre Green, Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of South Alabama, is an experienced Principal Investigator with over $3M in grants management from the National Science Foundation, Alabama State Department of Education through the AMSTI project, and various foundations and other governmental agencies. His research interests focus on minority access to the STEM disciplines, the training of STEM teachers, STEM teacher leadership, mentoring, and the induction of educators into the profession. Dr. Green is the program coordinator for secondary education at USA in the College of Education. He has extensive experience in working with minority students from urban environments and has developed educational programs of community outreach to improve the academic achievement of minority students. 

 

Phillip Feldman, University of South Alabama

Dr. Phillip Feldman, Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Alabama, has 40 years of experience in teacher education. A former teacher corps intern, Dr. Feldman is a strong proponent of the use of technology in the classroom. He is an experienced administrator and his funded research includes serving as Principal Investigator for Validating Hypermedia in Elementary Mathematics ($980,000, National Science Foundation. 1990-1994) and Principal Investigator for Preparing Tomorrows Teachers to Use Technology ($1,300,000, US Department of Education. 1999-2003). In addition, Dr. Feldman is Principal Investigator for the Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative ($4,500,000 annually, NSF and AL Department of Education. 2005-present).

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Published

2012-09-16

How to Cite

Kent, A. M., Green, A. M., & Feldman, P. (2012). Fostering the Success of New Teachers: Developing Lead Teachers in a Statewide Teacher Mentoring Program. Current Issues in Education, 15(3). Retrieved from https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/988

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 3 (2012)

Section

Articles

License

Authors retain copyright without restrictions. Unless otherwise indicated, from 2021 all articles are published under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license. For more information visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Articles published prior to 2021 used a CC-BY-NC-SA license.