Keywords

Attitude (Psychology), Mentoring in education, Teacher administrator relationships, Teacher principal relationships, Teachers

Abstract

Florida's Beginning Teacher Program was evaluated to determine if there were significant differences in administrative attitude and perception of success between Orange County and Seminole County. Further evaluation was conducted to determine if the four possible gender-pairings of beginning teachers and peer teachers/mentors resulted in differing success rates. Finally, the program was examined to determine if administrative or peer teacher/mentor attitude was related to the success of the program. Beginning teachers, their peer teachers/mentors and administrators in Orange County and Seminole County were surveyed to accomplish these evaluations, using the Administrative Attitude Scale and the Beginning Teacher Success Scale developed for the study. Statistical differences were found between Orange County and Seminole County on both of the survey instruments, indicating that differences in implementation of state guidelines can result in differing attitudes and success rates. These results suggest the need for comparative studies in order to evaluate the differing plans of implementation. The gender-pairing combination of male beginning teachers with male peer teachers/mentors consistently showed the most negative results on the Beginning Teacher Success Scale. Study of this phenomenon is needed in order to determine the causes and cures for this group's poorer success rate. Administrative attitude was not statistically related to the success of the program. This finding was in contrast to the previous research, which indicated that the attitude of a 'helping adult' was the most critical factor in the success of a beginner. Study is needed to determine if this is a result unique to the educational community. Administrative comments indicated, however, that their attitude toward the participants in the program was much more favorable than their attitude toward the program itself, and this may provide a key to understanding these results. In Orange County, peer teacher/mentor attitude was not related to the success rate. However, in Seminole County there was a statistical relationship between peer teacher/mentor attitude and beginning teacher perception of success. There may have been a greater commitment on the part of the peer teachers/mentors in Seminole county because they were financially reimbursed. Although there were variations in results between counties and groups in the studies, the survey instruments indicated that the Beginning Teacher Program was achieving success, and that administrative and peer teacher attitude was moderately positive.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

1987

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Haughee, Harold J.

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Educational Services

Degree Program

Administration and Supervision

Format

PDF

Pages

131 p.

Language

English

Rights

Public Domain

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0020687

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Download

Share

COinS