The College of Education, Health and
Human Sciences
Announces the Final Examination of
Vonda K. Scipio
for the degree of
Doctor of Education
May 15, 2014 at 1:00 pm
405 Ball Hall, University of Memphis
Memphis, TN
Biographical Sketch
Bachelor of Science, Human Resources Management, Upsala College
Master of Arts, Reading Specialization Adult Literacy, Kean University
Advisory Committee
Vivian Gunn Morris, Ph.D., Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership, Committee chair
Satomi I. Taylor, Ph.D., Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
J. Helen Perkins, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
Jerrie Scott, Ph.D., Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
Louis Franceschini, Ph.D., Research Associate II, Center for Research in Educational Policy
Mitsunori Misawa, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Leadership
Major Field of Study
Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
Period of Preparation: 2007 – 2014
Comprehensive Examination Passed: August 2013
Improving Teacher Effectiveness in an Urban School District through a
High Quality Induction and Mentoring Program
Abstract
Induction and mentoring programs are being implemented throughout the nation by school districts as intensive professional development for new teachers. These programs are designed to accelerate the development of novice teachers as a strategy for improving the academic achievement of students enrolled in P-12 classrooms. In an effort to assess the relative importance of school-level factors that might further such teachers’ growth, the purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of three cohorts of mentored teachers with respect to five working conditions at their assigned schools—namely, (a) colleagues contribution to professional growth; (b) principal support of professional growth; (c) adequate classroom space; (d) sufficient materials and supplies and (e) collaboration with veteran teachers—and to determine if there were differences in their perceptions by such respondent characteristics as years teaching, time working with their mentors, and level of education.
Participants in this study were 169 mentored teachers who taught from one to three academic years, from 34 schools, in a predominately African American district in the southeastern United States. While enrolled in a school district-university sponsored induction and mentoring program over a three-year period, the mentored teachers completed an anonymous online Induction Survey that was developed and administered by the New Teacher Center, Santa Cruz. Derived from successive administrations of the Induction Survey, the data were brought together in a single file were subjected to secondary analysis. Obtained through the application of a variety of non-parametric statistical procedures, the findings indicated that the mentored teachers rated those items highest that pertained to the “social context” of the school: namely, colleagues’ contribution to their professional growth, collaboration with veteran teachers, and support of principals. Conversely, the more “material” conditions of the school—specifically, the adequacy of the room in which they taught and sufficiency of materials and supplies for instruction—were consistently rated lowest by these teacher respondents.