Many school divisions throughout the U.S. are having a difficult time retaining teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ingersoll, R. M., 2004). 'High levels of attrition, estimated to be nearly 8% of the workforce annually, are responsible for the largest share of teacher demand' (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, and Carver-Thomas, 2016, p. 2). According to Ingersoll and Strong (2011), Ingersoll and Perda (2011), and Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2016), reasons as to why teachers decide to leave the profession or change teaching locations include: job satisfaction, school demographics, student discipline, lack of administrative support, lack of teacher autonomy, and new teacher mentor programs. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify mentor and mentee teachers' perceptions about the current mentoring program and their recommendations for future revisions that will increase teacher retention. An urban, central Virginia school division was selected for this study. Participants selected for this study have served as a mentor teacher for new teachers hired into the selected division or have recently been hired into the division. The division has approximately 260 full-time teaching professionals. From the beginning of the 2013-14 school year to the conclusion of the 2015-16 school year, 125 teachers were replaced. The attrition rate of the selected division is approximately double the attrition rate in the Commonwealth of Virginia (Pitts, 2017). Mentoring programs appear to be among the prominent approaches to teacher retention (McCann and Johannessen, 2010). The researcher sought to determine perceptions of mentor teachers regarding their suggestions for improvement in the current mentor program as a determining factor in whether teachers decide to remain in their current positions. This study yielded eight findings and six implications. / Ed. D. / School divisions throughout the United States have struggled to retain teachers from year to year. Several reasons for this phenomenon were identified in the review of literature. Teacher mentor programs was the specific area the researcher selected to guide this study. This quantitative study focused on the perceptions of teacher mentors and teacher mentees and how their mentor program addressed teacher retention. Data were collected using survey methodologies. Participants for the study were selected from one small urban school division in Virginia. Through this study, the researcher identified eight findings and six implications. One limitation for this study was the small sample size. A suggestion for future research would be to expand the population of participants to include many more school divisions.

As National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I student-athletes arrive on college campuses, many often struggle in transitioning to the rigors of college academics and social life. To aid in this transition from high school to college, Division I athletic departments often utilize peer-mentor study hall programs, where incoming student-athletes work with non-athlete undergraduate and graduate master students to develop academic, study, and time management skills necessary for college success. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the thoughts and feelings about the purpose and outcome of study hall differed across the expert/novice spectrum. How do student-athletes, peer mentors, and academic support staff perceive the purpose of study hall? What is the expected outcome of study hall? These questions will be explored and the varying array of results presented in a discussion that will illuminate the differences between expert and novice perceptions regarding study hall.

This investigation focused on identifying model foundational strategies to assist Canton Public School District (CPSD) officials in recruiting new teachers, successfully hiring them, and then retaining them the district. Located within the boundaries of the city of Canton, Mississippi, CSPD is geographically located in the central portion of the state. The district consists of 1 high school, 2 middle schools, 4 elementary schools and Canton Education Services Center. CSPD is continually affected by an ever-increasing teacher shortage because new teachers tend to leave the district after they are hired. More than 50% of new teachers leave their teaching positions in the district’s schools within 5 years. The investigation utilized published literature and other archival data (e.g., scholarly papers presented at conferences) accessible to the public in the form of books, chapters in published books, journal articles, and scholarly papers presented at learned societies and associations. Two research questions guided the investigation. The first research question asked: What does the published literature and related archival data (e.g., available scholarly papers retrievable from sources such as colleges, universities, foundations, conferences, etc.) accessible to the public reveal about recruiting, hiring, and retaining teachers? Overall, the material collected and analyzed yielded abundant information. Much of the available information proved valuable because the material focused attention the “how-to-do-it” aspects of recruiting, hiring, and retaining quality new teachers. The second research question asked: Will information gleamed from an analysis of the published literature and other archival data (e.g., unpublished scholarly papers) lead to the development of foundational strategies for assisting school district officials in recruiting, hiring, and retaining new teachers for CPSD? It was possible to develop a model holding potential for improving teacher recruitment, hiring, and retention at CPSD. The model that was developed features seven foundational strategies that if implemented, hold potential for improving teacher recruitment, hiring, and retention at CPSD. The seven strategies are: (1) identify the vacancy and write the job description, (2) announce and advertise the teacher vacancy, (3) develop a customized application form, (4) paper screening process, (5) interviewing process, (6) salary and benefit package, and (7) induction and mentoring.