Retaining High Quality Teachers Through Mentorship And Support: The Principal's Role

Retaining teachers, especially those new to the profession, continues to emerge as a problematic task that is plaguing public school systems throughout the United States. When teachers depart from the profession so quickly, educational systems become destabilized in their ability to provide students with high quality teaching and learning experiences. The principal’s role in implementing a formal campus mentorship program and conscientiously supporting beginning teachers has been found to significantly increase teacher retention. This study applied a mixed methods approach to explore the impact that campus beginning teacher mentorship programs and supportive school leadership practices have on teacher retention. Through utilizing perception based data collection instruments that yielded numerical generalizations and invaluable qualitative insight, the results of this study documented and highlighted the influential factors and pivotal role that campus principals play in teacher retention. Beginning teachers report feeling disillusioned and unfulfilled shortly after entering the profession, and formal mentoring programs provide beginning teachers with the supportive network necessary to withstand the inevitable new teacher challenges.