Evaluation of an Online Mentoring Program.

In this article, the evaluation of an online mentoring program for preparing pre-service elementary teachers at a small liberal arts college is described. An intervention was created to investigate the effects of online mentoring with pre-service teachers, where mentoring is defined as a reciprocal relationship formed between an experienced teacher and a novice. This relationship is designed to provide ongoing support, advice and feedback during transition into the teaching profession (Andrews & Martin, 2003; Haney, 1997). According to Lloyd, Wood & Moreno (2000), policymakers in many states mandate or recommend mentoring for novice teachers during the first year of service. Such programs can potentially have a positive effect on both novice and experienced teachers and lead to greater retention (Boreen, Johnson, Niday & Potts, 2000), especially if a mentor is selected based on a set of competencies and trained to develop specific skills needed to provide student support (Brown & Kysilka, 2005; Haney, 1997). A secondary purpose of the article is to describe an efficient procedure for collecting and scoring rubric-based instruments because scoring performance outcomes is labor-intensive, time-wise and financially, even with small-scale studies. Observational or rating-scale data are required in many educational settings. Most of the instruments used in teacher evaluation systems require rating of observational data. The procedures described in this paper illustrate a coherent process for designing an instrument and collecting data in the framework of a comparative study; however, the same procedures could be applied to a single group of ratings. Three important aspects of this procedure are (1) how raters can be incentivized and trained, (2) how to make the most use of the limited availability of raters, (3) and how measurement information concerning the validity of a set of ratings can be obtained. In this paper, the general logistics are described; technical details are provided in a companion paper (Camilli & Sherman, 2013). Description of the Evaluation Study In a relatively small state college in the eastern U.S., pre-service teachers enrolled in a junior practicum were assigned, by course section, in roughly equal numbers to a treatment group and to a comparison group. Treatment group members received traditional face-to-face mentoring supplemented by expert online mentors. Control group members received only traditional mentoring face-to-face mentoring. Students and Assignment to Treatment In fall 2005 and spring 2006, 108 juniors enrolled in a practicum received mentoring from six university professors and 75 host teachers in seven classes. The sample consisted of 97% female and 3% males. The junior practicum consisted of three three-hour classes per week: integrating and differentiating instruction for all learners; methods of teaching social studies; reading and literacy for middle childhood plus a practice teaching experience. Teacher candidates worked in partnership with another teacher candidate and a host teacher in an elementary school. The practice teaching practicum component included a one and a half day weekly field experience for 12 weeks plus two weeks of full time teaching at the end of the semester. Seven junior practicum sections took part in the study. Order of registration for junior practicum was determined by the number of credit hours a student earned and then by alphabetical order of last name (from A to Z). Some teacher candidates selected particular college professors, some selected particular host schools, some had no preference and some selected spots in sections with available seats. After registration, sections were randomly assigned to treatment (4) and control conditions (3), and an online communication platform was selected to support student-mentor interaction. Students in all seven sections agreed to participate in the study prior to group assignment. …