What do Early Childhood Education Teachers Need the Most?

Abstract

The research problem was that students, at the data site, were not meeting the required academic standards of proficiency as measured by state testing. The local school district, which is located in the northeastern United States of America, supported Early Childhood Education Teachers (ECE) through a mentoring program to address this academic problem. The purpose of this research was to assist stakeholders, at the data site, with research-based findings that resulted from the evaluation of the mentoring program. A sample of 66 ECEs was purposefully selected and interviewed. The findings revealed that ECE teachers need more mentoring. Institutes of higher education, professional development providers, administrators’ associations, and school districts and leaders may benefit from having an awareness of why mentoring helps ECE teachers. Effectiveness of teachers can be increased through professional development opportunities that are ongoing and both systemic and systematic.