| Advising and mentoring of future teachers in teacher preparation programs are important in preparing quality teachers. The current study was performed to examine predictors of students' satisfaction with advising and mentoring in a teacher preparation program. Differences between students in their level of satisfaction with advising and mentoring as a function of who their advisor/mentor is, frequency of interaction with their advisor/mentor, student engagement, position in the program (pre-approval, approval, or student teacher), gender, age, and college grade point average were examined. Students' opinions regarding who should provide mentoring and advising services, and when these services should be provided were also explored.;The research was conducted within a private Midwest college where there are eight locations offering the teacher preparation program and a total of approximately 2,600 individuals in this program across all locations. The ACT and the NSSE student engagement survey were administered to 181 undergraduate teacher preparation students taking education courses that spanned year one through five of the teacher preparation program. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were utilized to analyze the data.;ANCOVAs were performed to determine which variables (who their advisor/mentor is, frequency of interaction with their advisor/mentor, student engagement, placement in the program (pre-approval, approval, or student teacher), gender, age, and college grade point average) were predictive of satisfaction with advising/mentoring. The results showed that placement in the program was predictive of satisfaction with advising (with students in the student teaching stage more satisfied than other groups). Who the mentor was and the frequency of interaction with the mentor were significantly related to satisfaction with mentoring.;This study provided insight into what factors influence students' satisfaction with advising and mentoring in a teacher preparation program. Students' opinions about who should provide advising and mentoring and when it should begin supported the recent research in teacher preparation that coaching and feedback should start when students enter college as freshmen. This advising and mentoring should be facilitated by all members of the learning community including faculty, site placement coordinators, cooperating teachers, student teaching supervisors, deans, and other staff members of the college. |
