The Impact of Second-Year Teacher Mentoring

Teacher retention in the United States is an ongoing problem that is affecting students around the country. States, districts, and schools have used many strategies to try to alleviate the teacher shortages. One of the most common strategies utilized is mentoring first year teachers. This mentorship helps establish the teachers in the schools and gives more of an understanding of what teaching is like on a day-to-day basis. This research specifically examined the potential impacts a second year of mentoring could have on the second-year teacher. In the United States, nine states have moved to mentoring models lasting longer than just one year. While this number fluctuates over time, there have been efforts around the United States to increase mentoring of novice teachers. This study focused on one school district in South Carolina who keeps the same mentor from year one to year two of a novice teacher’s career. Individual interviews with the mentors, second-year teachers, and principals were conducted along with focus group interviews with the mentor and second-year teacher at two schools within the district. All interviews and documents reviewed were looking for impacts of having the same mentor could have on a second-year teacher. While there were clear implications and benefits for having an assigned mentor in the year of the novice teacher’s career, the impacts were not as clear in year two. A case study analysis of each of the individual schools followed by a cross-case analysis led to the overall themes that emerged from the data. The overarching themes were proximity, grade level assignments, and the role of informal mentoring. These emerging themes helped show the potential impacts a second year of mentoring could have on a second-year teacher.