Perceptions: Are mandatory mentoring programs contributing to beginning teachers' retention in urban public school settings in Northern New Jersey?

The research performed for this study examined the perceptions of beginning teachers who participated in mandatory mentoring programs, to discover whether such programs contributed to teacher retention in urban public settings in Northern New Jersey. Characteristics found to have an influence on beginning teachers’ retention rate in the existing literature were evaluated and reported. The interview questions were developed based on the literature review and advice from a jury of expert administrators. The beginning teachers participated in semi-structured interviews lasting 45 minutes each to provide insight into their experiences, their participation in mentoring programs, and their view of the teaching profession as they continue to work in urban public settings with high teacher turnover. Fifteen sources of data, consisting of fifteen semi-structured interviews of beginning teachers participating in mentoring programs within an urban public school setting, were selected for this study. All data explored in this study pertained to these fifteen beginning teachers located in one urban public school district in Northern New Jersey during the 2017-2018 academic school year. The results of the study suggest that mandatory mentoring programs do contribute to beginning teachers’ retention in urban public school settings in Northern New Jersey.