1

Increasing Teacher Retention at Low Performing Urban Schools

A Proposed Evaluation for a
New Teacher Mentoring Program

Jasmine Farrow
Hamilton County Schools: East Brainerd Elementary

Correspondence should be addressed to:

Jasmine Farrow
East Brainerd Elementary School
Farrow_j@hcde.org

Description of the Program:

Teacher retention is a persistent issue in school improvement. While it is true that some
degree of teacher turnover in schools is both healthy and inevitable, the loss of large numbers of
teachers over time weakens the overall capacity of a school to serve its students. In addition, it
creates new problems related to recruiting and inducting new teachers. Statistics show that small
schools, urban schools, and schools serving high-minority, high-poverty populations are
particularly at risk of losing teachers (Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Strizek, & Morton, 2007). One
body of research highlights the importance of supportive working conditions and teacher mentors
for new teachers in these high risk schools. Factors such as time, leadership, professional
development, access to resources, and teacher empowerment all exert a significant influence on
the degree of satisfaction teachers feel in their jobs. Recent research indicates that teachers with
positive perceptions about their working conditions are much more likely to stay at their current
school than educators who are more negative about their conditions of work, particularly in the
areas of leadership and empowerment (Hirsch & Emerick, 2007, p. 14).
In Hamilton County, principals at low income urban schools are faced with the issue of
teacher retention year after year. In an effort to support new teachers during their first year of
teaching, all principals at these low performing schools will implement a New Teacher
Mentoring program during the 2014-2015 school year. All teachers who are in their first year of
teaching or in their first year of teaching in an urban setting will participate in the program.
These apprentice teachers will work closely with a teacher mentor, administration, and all
instructional support staff to get the support they need to have a successful first year. If the
program is successful, these teachers will be equipped with the skills, knowledge, and resources
needed to return to their school the following year.

Essential Questions:
How can the New Teacher Mentoring Program best support new teachers in improving
their practice?

How can the New Teacher Mentoring Program increase the knowledge base and general
awareness of best practices for new teachers?

How can the New Teacher Mentoring Program promote and provide effective training for
new teachers?

How can the New Teacher Mentoring Program help assimilate new teachers into the
norms and culture of their school?

Will the New Teacher Mentoring Program help increase teacher retention rates in low
performing urban schools?
The essential questions will lay the foundation for evaluation of the overall effectiveness

of the program. Evaluators can shape their mentee and mentor survey questions from the
essential questions. This way they can measure the effectiveness of all components of the New
Teacher Mentoring Program.
SMART Objectives:

All low performing urban schools in Hamilton County will implement a New Teacher
Mentoring Program in the 2014-2015 school year
During the summer of 2014, the leadership team at the urban schools that will implement
the new teacher program will select successful teachers to mentor one or two new
teachers during 2014-2015 school year
New teachers in the New Teacher Mentoring Program in urban schools will be given a
needs assessment during each 9 week grading period (October, December, March, and
May) of the 2014-2015 school year so administrators and mentor teachers will know
what specific support is needed
During the 2014-2015 school year, mentor teachers will meet with their mentee teacher(s)
weekly to assist with discipline, curriculum and assessment, planning, and fitting in to the
schools community
During the 2014-2015 school year, administrators will communicate with new and
mentoring teachers monthly
New teachers will participate in quarterly team building activities off campus to help
them build relationships with other staff members during the 2014-2105 school year

Mentoring teachers, administration, and other support staff such as literacy, math, and
instructional coaches will lead on site professional development focusing on the needs of
the new teachers throughout the 2014-2015 school year
Evaluation of the New Teacher Mentoring Program is necessary to measure the

effectiveness of the quality of the match between mentors and mentee teachers, the degree
to which this influences the use of best practice strategies in the classrooms of new teachers,
the effectiveness of the NTMP (New Teacher Mentoring Program) on increasing retention
of beginning teachers, the training and support of administrators and mentoring teachers as
it relates to the NTMP, and Evaluate the sustainability and cost of the program.
Models
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This conceptual framework model is compatible to the issue of increasing teacher

retention because it briefly describes all of the components of the New Teacher Mentoring

Program as well as the overall goal that is hoped to be reached through proper implementation of
the program. This model can also be used to make conceptual distinctions and organize ideas and
makes the components of the program easy to remember and apply. By reading this model,
stakeholders will be able to gain a better understanding of what specific types of support mentees
will receive, responsibilities of mentors and administrators, and see a snapshot timeline.
Logic Model:
Inputs
-Teachers that
will serve as
mentors
-Supportive
administratio
n
-Staff buy-in

Outputs
Activities
Participation
-Academic
workshops
that meet the
individual
needs of
mentee
teachers
-Personal
one on one
mentoring
-Staff
outings
-Professional
development
that will
build upon
mentees
strengths

-All low
performing
inner city
schools will
implement a
New Teacher
Mentoring
Program
-All new
teachers that
teach at a low
performing
inner city
schools will
participate in
the program

Short
\

Outcomes -- Impact
Medium

100% of first year

teachers at low
performing inner
city schools will
participate in the
New Teacher
Mentoring Program
>90% will begin to
build a positive
relationship with
their mentor and be
open to learning
new best practices,
discipline, and
communication
strategies.

100% of first year

teachers at low
performing inner
city schools will
participate in the
New Teacher
Mentoring Program
>90% will begin to
implement the best
practices,
discipline, and
communication
strategies they are
learning through the
program as well as
build healthy
relationships with
the staff

Assumptions
Teachers who are mentors have a positive outlook on the program and what to do their part to make
sure that new teachers are successful. Mentoring teachers are highly qualified and experienced in best
practices, discipline, and communication strategies. Mentee teachers are willing to fully participate in
the program. This includes being open to constructive criticism, feedback, attending professional

Long
100% of first
year teachers at
low performing
inner city
schools will
participate in the
New Teacher
Mentoring
Program >90%
of all teachers
that participated
in the New
Teacher
Mentoring
Program return
to their school
the following
year, thus
increasing
teacher retention
and decreasing
teacher turnover

External Factors
Teacher turnover related
to moving, illness,
pregnancy etc.
Do mentoring teachers

6
development, and implementing strategies learned.

fully understand their

responsibilities?

The above logic model is compatible to the issue of increasing teacher retention because
it is a depiction of the logical relationships between the resources, activities, outputs and
outcomes of a program. The main purpose of this logic model is to assess the "if-then"
relationships between the elements of the program. For example, if the New Teacher Mentoring
Program is successful, then 90% of new teachers in the program will be retained the following
year. This model also considers external factors that are outside of the effectiveness of the
program. This would give stakeholders reasons to account for the 10% of the teachers not
included in the 90%.
Program Description Template:
Resources/Input
s

Activities
Initial

Subsequent

Mentor/Mentee
meetings

Mentors and
mentees will
have a meet &
greet at the
beginning of
the 2014-2015
school year in
August

Mentors and
mentees will
meet weekly
throughout the
2014-2015
school year to
discuss needs,
concerns, and
questions

Meetings with
administration

Administratio
n will
facilitate and
oversee the
mentor/
mentee meet
and greet in
August and
introduce the
New Teacher

Administrator
s will meet
with mentors
and mentees
monthly

Outputs

Outcomes
ShortTerm/Intermediate

Mentor
teachers will
use the
information
gathered from
the meetings
with their
mentees to
create
personalized
professional
development
sessions to
meet those
needs
Administratio
n will use
information
gathered from
monthly
meetings to
monitor the
progress of
mentor/mentee
relationships,

Long-Term

Mentee teachers will

build a repertoire of
strategies, lessons,
ideas, and
communication
strategies

Mentee
teachers will
use the
information
learned from
the program to
become more
effective
teachers and
will feel like
they are
capable of
returning the
following year

Administration uses the

information gathered to
continuously make
changes and improve
the New Teacher
Mentoring Program
throughout the year

Administration
will have
created,
implemented,
and monitored
a successful
New Teacher
Mentoring
Program that
equipped new

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Mentoring
Program

to evaluate to
what extent
mentees have
implemented
information
given
professional
development
and mentoring
sessions, and
offer support
to mentors and
mentees

teachers with
the tools and
support they
needed to be
successful and
return the
following year

Needs Assessments

New teachers
(mentees) will
be given a
needs
assessment at
the beginning
of the 20142015 school
year to see
what support
they feel they
need at that
time

Throughout
the 2014-2015
school year,
mentee
teachers will
be given
quarterly
needs
assessments to
gain insight on
what type of
support they
need at those
times

Administratio
n will use
information
from needs
assessments as
a tool to
instruct
mentor
teachers on
how to best
assist their
mentees

Administrators will use

the information from
needs assessments to
gather resources,
materials, and provide
support for mentors and
mentees that will help
meet their specific
needs

Staff outings

During the
August 2014
professional
development
sessions, a
day of
professional
development
will be spent
as a staff
outing to help
build
relationships
amongst new
and veteran
teachers

Once a quarter
of the 20142015 school
year, the staff
will
participate in a
staff outing in
order to build
relationships
and assimilate
the new
teachers into
the school
culture

The staff will

go on retreats,
luncheons, and
team building
outdoor
activities

All teachers (especially

new teachers) will
value, enjoy, and look
forward to quarterly
staff outings

Throughout the
2014-2015
school year,
Information
from the needs
assessments
helped
administrators
and mentoring
teachers make
changes and
adjustments to
the program,
plan
personalized
professional
development
sessions and
activities, and
support new
teachers so that
they valued the
program and
felt prepared to
return the
following year
Throughout the
2014-2015
school year, all
teachers will
feel that the
staff outings
helped them
build stronger
relationships,
improved the
school climate,
and new
teachers will
feel like they
are a part of
their school

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community

The above program description model is compatible to the issue of increasing teacher
retention because it provides a brief description of the program as it will appear to the
stakeholders when planning and designing specifics for and evaluating The New Teacher
Mentoring Program. It also lists career outcomes for mentee teachers. This model also describes
how this program contributes to the academic and social successes of first year teachers.
Reasons for the Evaluation:
The reasons to evaluate the New Teacher Mentoring Program are to see if the program
had an impact on the following areas:

Retaining quality teachers

Improving beginning teachers skills and performance
Supporting teacher morale, communications, and collegiality
Building a sense of professionalism, positive attitude
Facilitating a seamless transition into the first year of teaching
Putting theory into practice
Preventing teacher isolation
The ultimate purpose of the evaluation of the New Teacher Mentoring Program is to use

the data to improve the program. The evaluation results can be used to demonstrate the
effectiveness of the program, identify ways to improve the program, modify program planning,
demonstrate accountability, and justify funding. The findings can also be used to demonstrate to
stakeholders that resources are being well spent and that the program is effective. Information
can also be used to aid in forming budgets and justify the allocation of resources. Lastly, it can be
used to enhance the image of the program. Evaluation of the program will also help
administrators and mentoring teachers can gain information on what worked
and what didnt, which professional development sessions and topics yielded
the greatest impact on the mentees, which components were the most

useful, mentee attitudes towards the program, and what things need to be
added or taken away to make the program reach its highest potential. The
evaluators for this program will be the principal, assistant principal(s), and
instructional coaches. This team of people will research and create
evaluation tools, analyze the data, and present the data to other
stakeholders (mentors and mentee teachers).
Political Boundaries:
Politics in evaluation deal with many things. One of the most important being the ability
to influence the evaluation process based on bias, self interests, conflicts of interests, and
personal agendas. Some questions that stakeholders should consider before beginning the
evaluation process are:
Who stands to gain/lose most from different evaluation scenarios?
Who has the power in this setting?
How is evaluator expected to relate to different mentees and mentors?
From which stakeholders will cooperation be required?
Are they willing to cooperate?
Who has vested interest in outcomes?
Who will need to be informed along the way?
Through careful examination of the above questions, stakeholders should be able to gain
a more accurate picture of the political boundaries that may arise during their evaluations and
take the necessary steps to ensure that all data collected is not a reflection of one persons or
groups personal interests. For example, one mentee teacher could have had one meeting with a
mentor that rubbed them the wrong way and because of that one experience, they could give
negative feedback about the program overall instead of that one incident and skew the data. This
is why considering and utilizing the above questions are so important.

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Human and Financial Resources:

In order to have a successful New Teacher Mentoring Program, there must be teacher buy
in and participation. The main component of the program is teachers who are willing to take on
the mentoring role. Not only will they need to be available to mentor new teachers one on one,
they will also be required to do observations, peer evaluations, and conduct professional
development sessions. Another human resource that is needed is the expertise of the instructional
coaches at the school in which the program has been implemented. These literacy and math
coaches will work closely with the mentoring teachers to gather materials, model lessons, and
plan activities for the mentee teachers. The administration is also a huge human asset for this
program. Administrators must be available for meetings, observations, and evaluations. During
the evaluation period, the school will also enlist the assistance of community volunteers to help
make copies, sort, and put the evaluations together. The evaluators will depend on funds from the
Title 1 budget to cover the evaluation expenses. Expenses will include but not be limited to:
copies, the purchase of electronic/online evaluation programs, refreshments during evaluations,
and program redesign where necessary.
Evaluation Design:
The evaluation design for the New Teacher Mentoring Program would be qualitative.
Qualitative research provides information useful to understand the processes behind observed
results and assess changes in peoples perceptions of their well-being. This method can also be
used to improve the quality of survey-based quantitative evaluations by helping generate
evaluation hypothesis; strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and expanding or
clarifying quantitative evaluation findings (Data Collection Methods, 2012). This type of
research will give evaluators a deeper look into the new teachers experiences, which include

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their perceptions, misconceptions, emotions (feelings), desires, actions, and thoughts about their
participation in the program. Qualitative research will also help evaluators and stakeholders
understand how those feelings, values, and perceptions influence behavior in the program. This
type of research is also appropriate because it helps generate ideas for improvements of the
program and identifies the needs for participants in the program, whether it be a mentor or
mentee.
Data Collection:
The main method for data collection for this study would be quantitative, via survey
research. A combination of various types of qualitative methods will be used also, such as,
structured interviews in which the researcher asks a standard set of questions would provide
information about the effects of the New Teacher Mentoring Program on its participants
performance, attitudes, and plans for returning during the 2015/2016 school year. Observations
and documentation would also be used as a means to measure to what extent the participants
were using the information and strategies they were given during the program. Data would be
collected from:
Face to face interviews

Questionnaires (ex: Has the teacher assigned to you been helpful? Was your mentor able
and willing to assist you in your areas of need? Did you receive assistance in planning?
Did you consider the support you received helpful?)

Observations (classroom, planning, professional development, faculty outings etc.)

Focus Groups

Documentation

Likert Scales

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Data Analysis:
The data will be analyzed through inferential statistics. Since this type of analysis uses
data to make inferences about the characteristics of a population, evaluators can make inferences
about teacher attitudes, what components were most valued, what components were least valued,
and if participants feel that the program helped them successfully complete their first year of
teaching. Inferential statistics are techniques that samples to be used to make generalizations
about the populations from which the samples were drawn. Not only will the results from the
evaluations be useful to administrators in low performing urban settings in Hamilton County that
have implemented the program, the generalizations that will be made can be useful to
administrators in like schools who have not implemented a plan to retain their new teachers. The
results can be a representation of all new teachers in low performing urban schools in Hamilton
County. The administrators (principal and assistant principal) and mentoring teachers will be
involved in drawing, interpreting, and justifying conclusions. The administrators will be solely
responsible for organizing and presenting the data to the mentoring teachers. After the
information data has been presented to the mentoring teachers, they will dialogue and make
inferences for each component of the evaluation.
Reporting Outcomes:
Reporting the findings of an evaluation is extremely important. It allows the evaluator to
communicate what was learned from the evaluation and demonstrate impact. Reporting findings
not only formalises knowledge and learning, but it also lets stakeholders know what lessons can
be learned (where relevant), and what actions will be taken. Reports should emphasise the
importance of the findings indicate that evaluators are looking to constantly learn and develop
from the data, leading to constant improvement to the New Teacher Mentoring Program.

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All stake holders (mentors, mentees, and instructional coaches) will be communicated
with during this process but at different times. The mentoring teachers would be involved and
informed before mentee teachers. Information would be presented to mentoring teachers so that
they can begin to work with administrators to make changes. After they have done that, then the
results of the evaluation will be presented to mentee teachers as well as the changes that will be
implemented the following school year. Face to face meetings, emails, written reports, and
presentations would be used to communicate with stake holders. Presentations and face to face
meetings would be helpful to the mentee teachers to help them gain a deeper understanding of
the data and the importance of their opinions and input. Emails and written reports would be
appropriate for mentoring teachers because that would provide a paper trail for them that will be
beneficial when they are brainstorming on how to improve the program.
Political, Ethical, and Inter-personnel Issues:
Strategies to protect the rights and dignity of evaluation participants will be incorporated
into the design and implementation of the evaluation. This would be done using guidelines from
the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the
American Counseling Association. In an effort to keep information confidential, make
participants feel that their time and participations is valuable, prevent any conflicts of interest or
bias, and makes sure that the data is collected and analyzed in a timely manner, evaluators will:

Keep evaluation procedures as brief and convenient as possible to minimize disruptions

in participants lives
Answer any questions they have about the evaluation
Provide incentives, such as food, certificates, etc.
Collect data in a private location where surveys cannot be seen and interviews cannot be
overheard
Provide them with information about the evaluation (what you will ask them to do, how
you will you use the results, and how long it will take)
Do not discuss information about individual participants with other people, including
other agency staff.

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Keep completed surveys or interviews in a secure location where they cannot be seen by
other people.
Securely dispose of completed material when it is no longer needed
There are also ethnical guidelines that evaluators need to follow. The Joint Committee on

Standards for Education Evaluation issued a series of standards in 1994 that have been widely
adopted (Ethical Issues, 2007). Under this framework, evaluators work should reflect the
following four standards:

Utility Evaluations should address important questions, provide clear and

understandable results, and include meaningful recommendations.
Feasibility Evaluations should be realistic and practical, so that they can be completed
in a time- and cost-efficient manner.
Propriety Evaluations should be legal and ethical.
Accuracy Information should be collected, analyzed, reported, and interpreted
accurately and impartially
Implementation of the above guidelines, ideas, and procedures should greatly reduce the

risk of any political ethical and inter-personnel issues disrupting the evaluation process.
Using the Data to Ensure Accountability:
Part of an administrators role is to know that communication and accountability are
critical to the effective management of their school. Using the data from the evaluation is an
excellent way to promote accountability. Without accountability teacher mentors could devalue
the New Teacher Mentoring Program and cause mentee teachers to leave. Building a program
with proper checks and balances should be the top priority for principals who have implemented
the New Teacher Mentoring Program.
After all stakeholders have been informed about the strengths and weaknesses of the
program, everyone will work together to create improvements. It is imperative that areas of
weaknesses be properly addressed as it relates to the role of mentoring teachers and participation
among mentees. When addressing individuals, its important that administrators do not create

15

fear by punishing. It is not about punishment but about finding solutions to a problem so that the
necessary changes can be made to the New Teacher Mentoring Program for the following year. It
is also necessary to use the data to clearly define the roles of the program. Evaluation data can be
used to make sure everyone knows what they are suppose to do and how they are to do it.
Administrators should encourage mentors and mentees to become more accountable
people by seeking evaluation with the understanding that it will improve the process and add to
their abilities. Because the evaluation of the New Teacher Mentoring Program used different
types of feedback and evaluation tools, employees have more opportunities to become more
accountable. In an effort to increase accountability across the board, data from the evaluation
will also be used to make sure that mentors and mentees have the knowledge, assistance and
resources they need to do their job effectively. If that means more mentor training, more
professional development sessions, or more teacher outings, administrations will be sure to
create a plan that will allow them to provide those things. Lastly, a great way an administrator
can use data from evaluations to increase accountability is to create a learning environment for
all participants. It is important to know what is working and what is not working and to find the
cause. Look at a problem that has occurred and find out what each person thought was
happening, what each person did and what was not done that needed to be done. If each person
involved in the problem can honestly help find the root of the issue, all sides can learn how to
help make sure the problem will not happen again. This also increases ownership in the program
for all stakeholders.
Creating a culture of accountability in schools is of vital importance to the future of a
New Teacher Mentoring Program. Being able to bring new teachers into a low performing urban
and retain them is a byproduct of having accountability in the workplace. Accountability systems

16

can really help the New Teacher Mentoring Program make leaps forward. Happier teachers are a
result of having an accountability system in place.
Reflection:
Teacher mentoring programs are something that I have a passion for. From my experience
of being a first year teacher at a low performing urban school, I know the need for programs like
this first hand. I really enjoyed researching information, looking at what other school districts
have done, and learning about the process of evaluation. I did not know that there were so many
sub-components! I wonder if administrators really use this type of detailed format for everything
they evaluate during a school year? I am hoping to continue on to a doctoral program and would
love for this to be the topic of my thesis. I now have an abundance of resources that I could use. I
am looking forward to learning more about this topic and one day creating, implementing, and
evaluating my own New Teacher Mentoring Program.

References
Holm-Hansen, C. (2007, October 1). Ethical Issues. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from
http://www.wilder.org/WilderResearch/Publications/Studies/Program%20Evaluation%20and
%20Research%20Tips/Ethical%20Issues%20%20Tips%20for%20Conducting%20Program
%20Evaluation%20Issue%2012,%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf