Mentoring Experience Perceptions of Career Changing Teachers on Guam

Mentoring Experience Perceptions of Career Changing Teachers on Guam by Ronald A. Canos Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Teacher Leadership Walden University January 2018 Abstract Teacher attrition continues to impact public schools that seek to retain teachers in the classroom and meet rising enrollment rates. The recruitment of experienced career changing professionals into the educational workforce is a viable option to address teacher shortages. In addition, while the use of mentorship may support teacher retention and job satisfaction for novice teachers, inconsistencies in mentoring practices have limited the effectiveness of mentoring programs and support systems. The problem of limited research that examines the needs of career changing teachers (CCTs) and their initial mentoring experiences was addressed in this study. The social learning theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs frameworks were used in this phenomenological study to explore perceptions of 15 novice CCTs from the middle or high school levels, who had completed 1 to 5 years of teaching service. The research questions focused on CCTs’ perceptions of their mentoring experience, and the support they needed as novice teachers. Data collected from 2 rounds of semistructured interviews were analyzed with a multilevel coding approach to identify patterns and emergent themes. Emergent themes revealed CCTs’ experiences and skills as viable teaching candidates, perceptions of their mentoring experiences, and support and retention needs. The findings revealed CCTs’ desire for support in mentorship availability and quality, improvement in instructional pedagogy, and theTeacher attrition continues to impact public schools that seek to retain teachers in the classroom and meet rising enrollment rates. The recruitment of experienced career changing professionals into the educational workforce is a viable option to address teacher shortages. In addition, while the use of mentorship may support teacher retention and job satisfaction for novice teachers, inconsistencies in mentoring practices have limited the effectiveness of mentoring programs and support systems. The problem of limited research that examines the needs of career changing teachers (CCTs) and their initial mentoring experiences was addressed in this study. The social learning theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs frameworks were used in this phenomenological study to explore perceptions of 15 novice CCTs from the middle or high school levels, who had completed 1 to 5 years of teaching service. The research questions focused on CCTs’ perceptions of their mentoring experience, and the support they needed as novice teachers. Data collected from 2 rounds of semistructured interviews were analyzed with a multilevel coding approach to identify patterns and emergent themes. Emergent themes revealed CCTs’ experiences and skills as viable teaching candidates, perceptions of their mentoring experiences, and support and retention needs. The findings revealed CCTs’ desire for support in mentorship availability and quality, improvement in instructional pedagogy, and the promotion of emotional resiliency and job satisfaction. Recommendations point to the need for mentorship as ongoing practice, the personalization of mentorship programs, and the leveraging of professional development practices to provide mentoring support. The major implications for social change are the improvement of mentoring program design and the implementation for the development and retention of highly effective teachers to impact student achievement. Mentoring Experience Perceptions of Career Changing Teachers on Guam Ronald A. Canos Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Teacher Leadership Walden University December 2017 Dedication I dedicate this study to my family. To my loving wife Aileen. We started this journey together and this accomplishment is as much yours as it is mine. You’ve always pushed me to achieve more than I have ever thought I could or even deserved. Your patience and belief in me has helped me to continue this journey despite the many days of uncertainty and nights of doubt. All that I have accomplished is a direct result of your love and support. To my son Connor. I hope you may look back at this as something that may inspire and encourage you. I know you don’t know all the details of a doctoral study nor the research contained within at this point, but I hope that one day, by reading this, you understand that it was not just a body of work, but a promise to provide you with a better future. To my daughter Ava. I started this before your were born, and your life seemed to run parallel to this experience as well. It didn’t start off as we had planned and there were some delays before we got ourselves up and running, but here we are. Ready. Bright. Beautiful. I also dedicate this study to my parents, who instilled in me the values of finishing what I set out to do and most importantly doing it the right way; no matter how long it takes. Finally, I dedicate this study to all our newest teachers whose voices are seldom heard and whose struggles may go unrecognized. May your sacrifices lead you to success and your influence bloom to be a positive force in the life of a child. Acknowledgments I am thankful and incredibly humbled to have been given an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream. In this journey, I received the unwavering support of my family, friends, and mentors. I want to acknowledge my Walden instructors, support staff, advisers, and most especially my doctoral committee for their encouragement and guidance as I navigated the challenges and successes of my journey. I want to first acknowledge my doctoral study chairperson, Dr. Rachel Pienta, whose patience and encouragement kept me moving forward despite the many nights of wanting to give up. You pointed me in the right direction. You stood by my side despite my doubts. You saw in me what I could accomplish rather than point out what I could not. Your guidance and support was integral to my success, and I am forever blessed and eternally grateful to have had you as my mentor. Dr. Daniel Baer, you gave me much needed insight and perspective. I am thankful for your support, especially in ensuring that I was looking at my study with fresh eyes. You helped me see some of the intracacies of research that I either missed or took for granted. Thank you for helping me maintain a sense of professionalism that sometimes gets forgotten as I was grinding through the work. I am also thankful for the support and guidance of Dr. Dan Cernusca. You have helped me understand the value of research. You helped me see that the research process done the right way, may impact not just the problem we are trying to solve, but also the professional we intend to be. I am both humbled and inspired by the opportunity that Walden University provided for me. I hope to continue to work towards and impact social change, and carry forth the values that Walden University has instilled in me.