Researchers have reported that by the year 2010, two million teachers will be needed in classrooms across the country. The shortage has been attributed to population increases and a rise in the number of teacher retirements. Other researchers contend that the shortage is due to rising attrition rates among new teachers. They claim that new teachers become dissatisfied with teaching due to poor working conditions. As a result, new teachers have prematurely departed the teaching profession in alarming numbers which has placed the educational system at large in a state of crisis. This dissertation examined the factors which impacted the working conditions of beginning teachers and their enculturation into teaching and school cultures. Novices' experiences before and after teacher education training included the influence of significant individuals prior to entry into teaching and their interactions with the principal, veteran teachers and students. The process of induction served as a means to facilitate or impede the enculturation process. Data gathered and generated for this qualitative study included survey, interview and observation. Through participants' shared experiences, both positive and negative factors influenced their enculturation into teaching and the school culture. As prospective teachers, significant individuals were a positive influence on new teachers' decisions to enter teaching and their educational perspectives. As new teachers, findings revealed four negative factors which hindered their enculturation process. First, the veteran-oriented school culture was unsupportive and prevented the school community from adequately addressing new teachers' needs during induction. Second, although new teachers expressed concerns about classroom management, discipline and student achievement in their interactions with students, these concerns did not have a significant negative impact on their enculturation. Third, new teachers' interactions with veteran teachers lacked collegiality and prevented the types of collaborative exchanges necessary to promote professional growth. Fourth, the empathy expressed for the new principal restricted opportunities for interactions and subsequently lowered new teachers' expectations of the principal's ability to provide support. The principal's inexperience and novice-status sanctioned the negative veteran-oriented culture which dominated the school environment, thus, limiting the impact of new teacher induction and impeding the enculturation of beginning teachers.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / This study is an attempt to determine the specific experiences needed by children in the first grade for beginning reading. It is generally agreed that children make more rapid progress and build better reading habits if they are provided in the beginning with interesting material which contains a desirable minimum of vocabulary difficulties

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study is the construction of ear training exercises to improve the auditory discrimination of children in beginning reading. It is an effort to provide training in seeing the formation of sounds on the lips, kinesthetic training in feeling the sounds as they are spoken, in addition to auditory training in distinguishing word elements.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The rate of criminal involvement of women has historically been lower than that of men; however, that is changing. Changes in societal norms and progress toward gender equality have broadened the scope of female behaviors, and modified traditional female responsibilities and roles in the home potentially influencing their participation in the crime market. However, the bulk of research on criminal activity is based on the male experience. Thus, less is known about female criminals and their motivations. A closer look at women’s trajectories into crime therefore will likely yield important insights. This study investigates the descent into drugs and crime from the perspective of women who have previously been charged with crimes beyond simple possession of illegal substances. The key interest lies in shedding light on the experiences that set these women on the path to criminal activity. Specifically, this project aims to explore what the women themselves perceive as precursors to their criminal experience. Our findings suggest that female descent into crime may run contrary to many widely held beliefs, such as: that criminal careers begin in adolescence; that women become participants in crime through the influence of significant others; and that criminals come from lower class households.

The perceptions of how well the mentor teacher program meets the needs of the beginning teacher, the mentor teacher, and the school division were examined in this study. There were three populations: 100 beginning teachers employed in the Newport News Public Schools with an initial employment date of August 1998, 56 mentor teachers, and 31 program administrators. Three surveys, utilizing Likert scales, were developed to collect data. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data. Data from the three populations were analyzed separately. Each set of data was disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, years of experience, position, educational level, and career status. Means were compared to identify differences in the perceptions of the program's effectiveness. The overall conclusion was that the program is only modestly meeting the needs of beginning teachers and mentors. In the perception of administrators, the program is meeting the needs of the school division. The data are quite clear that the closer one is to the classroom (the beginning teacher) the lower one rates the mentoring program. The beginning teachers rated the program the lowest, with mentors rating it next lowest and administrators rating it the highest. Numerous strengths and areas needing improvement were identified in the assessment. Among the strengths were sufficient emotional support from mentors, assistance with policies and procedures of the school and division, help with instructional methods, and training for mentors. Among the areas needing improvement were sufficient time for mentoring and receiving assistance; support for such activities as stimulating student learning, conducting home visits, organizing the classroom, and achieving the Virginia Standards of Learning; compensating mentors adequately; and assigning mentors to beginning teachers who teach the same grade or content. The data may be useful in guiding modifications in the mentoring program of the Newport News Public Schools or in developing an effective mentoring program in any school system. / Ed. D.

According to the U. S. Department of Education (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 1996), U.S. public schools will hire an estimated two million teachers within the decade. The experience of the beginning teacher is a stressful one with more than 40% of new teachers choosing to leave the profession during the first three years. One promising practice to address this problem is mentoring, an expert teacher helping the beginner one-on-one. The heart of mentoring is the mentor/mentee relationship. This study investigated the nature of the beginning teacher/mentor relationship and the forces that affected that relationship. The methodology was a cross-case analysis of three pairs of mentor/mentees at the elementary level. The data were collected from focus groups, teacher interviews, observations, email responses, and document review. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method examining emerging themes across all three cases. Trustworthiness of the research was fostered through multiple sources of data, practice interviews, oversight by peers and committee, participant review, and description of themes in the participants' own words. The data revealed that the mentor/mentee pairs developed very strong relationships grounded on reassurance, collaboration, reciprocity, friendship, problem solving, multi-layered support, and informal structures for getting together. Positive forces affecting the relationships included personality of the participants, perception of mentor role, closeness of age, proximity of classrooms, and common teaching assignment. Time constraints acted as a negative force that presented many challenges addressed by mentors and their mentees in very unique ways. / Ph. D.

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The purpose of this case study is to gain the perspectives of four non-Maori beginning teacher on meeting the needs of Maori children in the mainstream classroom. The participants all graduated from the Christchurch College of Education Rotorua regional primary programme that I work within. Specific practices, strategies and professional development opportunities found effective in meeting the needs of their Maori learners by these beginning teachers are sought and discussed. The findings of this study confirm the importance of building relationships and getting to know each Maori child as an individual. Establishing and maintaining routines appropriate for Maori children and their learning became evident as did the power of the arts curriculum to engage Maori in their learning. The quality of teacher training in New Zealand to prepare beginning teachers to teach Maori has been questioned over the past decade. Within this case study the impact of pre-service wananga on these non-Maori beginning teachers to empower themselves to teach Maori children in the mainstream classroom was clearly expressed. It is hoped that the findings of this study could contribute, even in a very small way, to New Zealand's goal to improve the quality of teaching for Maori in the mainstream classroom.

In this study, the discourse about beginning teachers is a central focus. I attempt to unravel the strands of this discourse and juxtapose the voices of beginning teachers with scholarly and authoritative voices which speak about or on behalf of beginning teachers. This thesis attempts to link narrative and narrative theory with critical and cultural theory in order to highlight the nature of this discourse about teachers at career entry. Issues of identity and the ‘process of becoming’ (Britzman, 2003) remain central throughout this work.