Amir Vashani - Lecturer at Payame Noor University, Iran

Teacher mentoring is an integral part of retaining teachers in the profession. It helps them acquire the necessary skills and knowledge and prepares them for the profession. Mentoring is also important as it helps to develop teachers. There is a great need to come up with ways to retain teachers within the profession in the United States. It is important to come up with a way to mentor teachers. Several models exist on how mentoring can be successful. In two states, Asher and Dane, the schools use in-school mentors and state mentors. The in-school mentors are fellow teachers and take part in teaching. On the other hand, the state coaches do not take part in teaching but devote their entire attention to mentoring beginning teachers to help improve retention. There is a need to investigate which between the alternative models of mentoring is more effective. Hallam, Chou, Hite and Hite (2012) investigate this issue. The study involved 26 teachers from the Asher school district and 46 from the Dane school district. Participant teachers were followed for three years. They were tested each year tto take note of those who remained and those who left the profession. It was found that the Asher model where in-school mentors were used was more effective than the Dane model. The reason was mainly due to the close relationship that in-school mentors and their protégés/protégées developed.

Teacher Mentoring, Mentoring Models, Teacher Retention