| Scope and method of study. The Oklahoma Residency Program, a stated mandated induction program for all teachers with zero experience has been in place since 1981. The program was established to mentor new teachers with problems that they encounter. Beginning agricultural education teachers face additional stress as they are responsible for an entire program of agriculture. This study was designed to compare perceptions of mentoring first year agricultural teachers receive from their committee members within the Oklahoma Residency Program. The population consisted of the 37 residency committees comprised of a mentor teacher, higher education representative, and administrator, each playing a role in the professional development of the resident agricultural education teacher. The study was designed to provide comparison data to studies conducted in 1985 and 1991. A mentor identification instrument also allowed resident agricultural education teachers to identify other persons who provided assistance during the agricultural education teachers' first year.; Findings and conclusions. Of all committee members in the Oklahoma Residency Program, resident teachers perceive the mentor teacher within the committee to be the greatest assistance. Residency committee members perceive they provided mentoring to resident agricultural education teachers, however presently, more committee members perceive their mentoring to be less assistance then provided in 1985 or 1991. Committee members and resident teachers each perceive the resident teacher asks for the committee members' assistance 1–5 times throughout the school year. Mentor teachers, administrators, higher education representatives, and resident teachers strongly favor the continuance of the Oklahoma Residency Program. Resident teachers were asked to identify persons who mentored them in areas of agricultural education during their first year. The most frequent mentor identified was other agricultural education teachers in the profession. The second most frequent was that no mentor assistance provided for the areas identified. The most frequent mentors identified as part of the Oklahoma Residency Program were a mentor teacher in agricultural education serving also as a teaching partner, the higher education representative, and the high school principal. |
