Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study is to provide guidance to educational stakeholders in the development, creation, and design of future programs to mentor administrators to enhance their self-efficacy. Methodology. A variety of mentor traits, behaviors, and functions were identified from literature in the field. The Delphi process was utilized to poll an expert panel on additional essential elements of mentoring that impact the efficacy and behaviors of school administrators and implementation barriers. The process consisted of four rounds as the panel ranked, prioritized and reached consensus of opinion on the elements, barriers, and finally provided effective strategies for the success of an administrative mentor program. Findings. Quantitative and qualitative data from a Delphi panel provided a collective of essential elements and the barriers to mentoring school administrators. Secondly, the panel provided specific strategies to overcome or diminish the effects of identified barriers to implementing the mentor process. The collective information was compiled into a guide for school districts and other organizations considering development of administrative mentor programs. Conclusions. The study data overwhelmingly support the conclusion that providing high quality, well trained mentors is an effective means of producing efficacious, self-confident, and proactive principals. The key indicator of this resourcefulness, related to the principal's feelings of success or failure, is the level of stress they experience. A significant body of the research suggests principals who have experienced greater success and less stress were those who had good on-the-job training under a well-trained and experienced mentoring principal. These findings offer hope for the development and implementation of more effective administrative mentoring programs and networks providing necessary support that may increase retention of high quality administrators in the long run and incentive for additional candidates to become administrators. Recommendations. Further studies recommended in the future include: examination of recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction in districts with high quality mentoring programs; common characteristics or attributes of leadership and mentoring; the developmental cycles of leaders and mentors as they develop and manifest themselves; and highly effective district or county administrative mentoring programs with respect to the creative ways used to change the district culture to truly support mentoring or ways used to finance mentoring as a long-term initiative. Also, it is recommended that the study be replicated to distinguish between informal mentoring relationships that evolve naturally and formally assigned mentoring relationships with organizational intervention.