A Comparison of the Occurrence and Impact of Selected Forms of Assistance As Provided by School Personnel to Three Cohorts of Beginning Agricultural Education Teachers

A variety of induction activities are being provided to beginning teachers by school district personnel. Little evidence exists concerning the frequency and impact of delivery of selected forms of assistance. This study involved 64 beginning secondary agricultural education teachers from three consecutive cohorts. Results of this study show that teacher induction programming that was frequently provided for beginning teachers by school personnel did not address the largest share of the forms of assistance that resulted in a major impact upon the experience of the beginning teachers. The initial five forms of assistance that had a major impact upon the experience of beginning teachers were: an adequate supply of instructional materials, parental support for the program, availability of purchasing information, planning time, and an extra planning period. Mean impact scores were not affected by gender, level of stress, origin of preservice education, and size of school. The researcher concluded that school district personnel need to secure input from beginning teachers to inform induction programming efforts.