Abstract
This study sought to understand how aspiring administrators and supervising mentors contribute to the intern’s opportunity to lead authentic administrative tasks during the administrative internship. Using case study methodology, we gathered data from six intern/mentor pairs through in-depth interviews, observations, journals, and logs. Several themes contributed to the development of the intern/mentor relationship in three phases: (a) establishing the partnership, (b) cultivating the mentoring relationship, and (c) learning through the leadership experience. Our results informed the development of the Educational Leadership Mentoring Framework, a new conceptual framework that has the potential to enhance the quality of administrative internship experiences.
Keywords
Identifying key components of quality leadership preparation programs has been the focus of extensive research in the last decade. One key feature of exemplary programs is the completion of a field-based administrative internship in which the intern applies leadership knowledge and skills under the guidance of a skilled practitioner-mentor (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007; Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2005; Krueger & Milstein, 1995; Orr, 2011). The administrative internship gives aspiring school leaders the opportunity to problem solve, to integrate theory into practice, and to experience the daily challenges faced by those currently serving in administrative positions (Huber, 2008; Leithwood, Jantzi, Coffin, & Wilson, 1996). Orr and Orphanos (2011) specifically articulated the impact of internship experiences in stating, “the higher the quality of programs and internship experiences, the more positive the effects on candidate learning and subsequent use of effective leadership practices” (p. 48). Similarly, research across fields has demonstrated that contextually relevant, real-world learning opportunities that foster self-reflection lead to better adult learning outcomes (Baugh, 2003; Boyatzis & Kolb, 1999).
The 2011 Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards, recently revised by a committee of stakeholders and renamed the National Educational Leadership Preparation Standards (NELP), agree with this research by requiring that all administrative leadership preparation programs provide substantial field and clinical internship experience to aspiring administrators. Standard 7.1 specifically requires that the internship program provide practice for candidates “to synthesize and apply the content knowledge and develop professional skills identified in the other Educational Leadership Building-Level Program Standards through authentic, school-based leadership experiences” (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2011, p. 24). Yet not all administrative interns are provided with the opportunity to have “authentic leadership experiences” as the standards articulate. Administrative internship requirements and experiences vary widely across and even within leadership preparation programs in the United States with regard to the required numbers of hours, the sustained nature of those hours, the activities conducted within the internship, and the protocols for reflection and university faculty visitation utilized across programs (Barnett, Copland, & Shoho, 2009; Carr, Chenoweth, & Ruhl, 2003; Clayton, 2012; Orr, 2011; Thessin & Clayton, 2013). Furthermore, while research suggests full-time, paid administrative practicums are most likely to provide interns with the leadership experiences they need (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007; Lovely, 2004; Norris, Barnett, Basom, & Yerkes, 2002; Shelton, 2010; Southern Regional Education Board [SREB], 2005), many aspiring leaders do not have the resources to cede a paid teaching position. They instead complete internship requirements during the summer months or over a period of 12 months, completing varied number of internship hours during that time frame as is feasible with existing work commitments.
In reviewing 61 educational administration preparation programs with varied requirements, Fry, Bottoms, and O’Neill (2005) found that current programs provide interns with more opportunities to observe or participate in school-based leadership than to lead. How, then, do aspiring administrators obtain relevant leadership experiences that prepare them for their future roles, as required by the NELP standards? Current literature does not articulate how the leadership experiences that administrative interns need to obtain are generated during the administrative internship. This need for greater understanding is particularly important for aspirant administrators who complete their internships during the summer, when less time is available to gain these leadership experiences, and in light of the prevalence of this practice.
The mentor principal plays a critical role in the development of future educational leaders and specifically in ensuring interns receive these authentic leadership experiences (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004; Crow & Matthews, 1998; Daresh, 1992, 1995, 2004; Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennet, 2004; Gardner, Enomoto, & Grogan, 2000; Playko, 1995; Searby, 2010; Thessin & Clayton, 2013; Wilmore, 2004; Wilmore & Bratlien, 2005). However, in our review of the literature published in the last decade on administrative internships, we found that fewer than 15 articles referenced mentoring during this critical time in career and leadership development. In prior studies we conducted (Clayton & Thessin, 2017; Thessin & Clayton, 2013), two key themes emerged as influential in the quality of the internship experience across multiple years of data: the degree to which interns were provided with the opportunity to lead during the administrative experience and the significance of mentor trust and interactions during the internship experience.
Given the importance of the intern’s opportunity to lead during the administrative internship and the critical role played by the mentor(s), it is clear more exploration is needed about how this partnership is developed, nurtured, and maintained for optimal learning, particularly during a summer internship experience. In this qualitative multiple case study, we sought to gain greater understanding of how the administrative intern and the supervising mentor each contributed to the intern’s opportunity to lead authentic administrative tasks during the summer internship experience. The following research questions guided our work:
Literature Review
In considering the contributions that facilitate the intern’s opportunity to gain authentic leadership experience in the educational administrative internship, we conducted a review of the mentoring literature. Due to the limited research and analysis specifically dedicated to the role and the degree of importance of the mentor within the intern/mentor relationship in education, we looked across fields to understand the characteristics of effective mentoring as current research defines them. In the following literature review, we will provide an overview of mentoring, discuss the characteristics of effective mentoring, and then report on what is currently known in the literature about mentoring in the administrative internship experience.
Overview
The original Mentor in Homer’s The Odyssey broadly demonstrated the relationship between one with wisdom or knowledge in a particular field and the developing leader. Such types of developmental relationships have proven to be a critical component of leadership development and often serve as a rite of passage to achieving the next step in a career trajectory.
However, current literature on mentoring has not provided a clear definition of what mentoring is and what it entails. In a review of the mentoring literature conducted by Crisp and Cruz (2009), the authors verified that Jacobi (1991)’s definition of mentoring has continued to be affirmed by recent literature: (a) mentoring relationships are focused on the growth and accomplishment of an individual and include the provision of assistance; (b) mentoring includes broad forms of support that may include career and professional development; and (c) mentoring relationships are personal and reciprocal. The importance of the “relationship” in mentoring programs, as Jacobi referenced in two of her definitions, and broadly in individuals’ learning and development, is well-documented (McCauley & Guthrie, 2007).
Internships are an integral part of professional preparation in education, as well as in other fields, such as in health care and business (D’Abate, Young, & Wenzel, 2009; Metcalfe, 2010). Mentoring during internships and other practicum experiences is a key aspect of career development in these fields. “It is a process in which mature and experienced staff serving as mentors share their wisdom, skills, knowledge, values, and experiences with younger employees or potential employees” (Singh & Mahomed, 2013, p. 1373). The role of the mentor requires time, expertise, and dedication to the development of students entering a chosen field.
Characteristics of Effective Mentoring
Existing research has identified commonalities across effective mentoring programs. Characteristics of effective mentoring programs include networking opportunities, time for self-reflection, socialization, feedback, encouragement of risk-taking, and reflective practice (Alsbury & Hackmann, 2006; Barnett, 2005; Crow & Matthews, 1998; Dappen, 2001; Daresh, 2004). Eby, Butts, Lockwood, and Simon (2004) found that five components of the mentoring relationship and communication could negatively or positively affect the overall experience, including “mismatch within dyad, distancing behavior, manipulative behavior, lack of mentor expertise, and general dysfunctionality” (p. 102). Furthermore, Crow and Matthews (1998) highlighted the issue of uncommitted or weak mentors who can have a detrimental, rather than positive, effect on mentees, and Daresh (2004) indicated that time constraints of administrators who serve as mentors can lessen the positive effects of the relationship. Communication and mutual beneficence emerged as key factors in effective mentoring relationships.
Communication
As mentor and mentee pairs communicate, there are characteristics in the development of the communication structure, style of communication, and trust that manifest as critical components of an effective mentoring relationship. As previously stated, training in advance of the program and structured mechanisms for communication emerge as positive attributes of effective mentoring programs. Hale (2000) found four main mechanisms that mentees reported as benefiting their growth, including mentors sharing their stories and experiences, mentors discussing the key political issues faced at higher levels of the organization, mentors discussing the strategies and activities taking place within the organization, and reflection. Given the importance of these communications, some programs of educational leadership turn to structured opportunities for communication in the mentor/mentee dyads. These might include journals, mandatory meetings, videotaped feedback sessions, and use of structured communication protocols. The Leadership Performance Planning Worksheet from the New York City Leadership Academy provides one example.
Huang and Weng (2012), in studying mentors in health care settings, found the closer the mentor and mentee were in their thinking style, the more agreeable the communication was between them. In addition, communication is enhanced by a trusting relationship developed during the program between a mentor and mentee who are effective at social interactions. Research shows, a “highly socially skilled mentoring pair is capable of building a more trusting, enduring, and pleasant relationship” (Wu, Turban, & Cheung, 2012, p. 56), thus improving the communication and benefits of the interaction.
Mutual beneficence
It is critical for both mentor and mentee to benefit and develop from the interaction. Such mutuality improves the experience for both parties and can make them more invested in the process. Daresh (2004) and Ehrich et al. (2004) found the most productive interactions came when mentors learned as much from their mentees as mentees learned from them. While some mentoring interactions are designed with mentees as a recipient of the wisdom and knowledge of a mentor, the relationship can be reciprocal. Ehrich et al. (2004) recognized the mutual benefits for interns and mentors during the internship as providing opportunities to share, reflect, and grow professionally. As Sherman and Crum (2009) found, the dialogue that occurs between the dyad can improve practice and create value for both parties.
Kram (1983) created a conceptual model that clarifies the phases of the mentor relationship and also demonstrates how the relationship can be mutually beneficial. In her study of individuals in a large public utility setting, including individuals who had been in a developmental relationship for an average of 5 years, she found that the mentoring relationship proceeded through four distinct phases: initiation, cultivation, separation, and redefinition. In each phase, each individual influences, and is influenced by, the relationship. While the first two phases she articulated as present in these long-term relationships shared some similarities with the experiences of the intern/mentor partners in our study, we found that the roles of the interns and mentors in each phase of the administrative internship in our study were quite unique.
Administrative Internship Mentoring
In the field of education administration, some studies place a strong emphasis on mentoring, while others simply mention that aspiring leaders work with on-site mentors during their internship. Our prior research found that “mentoring is a key component for the success of the internship activities and therefore, the overall experience” (Clayton & Myran, 2013, p. 60). Browne-Ferrigno and Muth (2006) emphasized the importance of assisting aspiring administrators through the role-socialization change from teacher to administrator. In their study, Krueger and Milstein (1995) identified mentor assignment and training as one of six core components necessary for program graduates to carry their experiential learning placements forward into leadership roles, as well as the factors of time on task, varied placements, opportunities for formalized reflection, supervision in the field, and coordination by the university program.
One key role of the school-based mentor principal is providing the intern with the opportunity to lead in the administrative internship. In this respect, it is crucial that school-based personnel who serve as mentors be highly involved in planning specific and structured activities for interns (Browne-FerrignoMuth, 2004; Pounder & Crow, 2005; Zellner, Jinkins, Gideon, Doughty, & McNamara, 2002) and that these activities require active participation in real-world instructional leadership experiences. Yet, in Alsbury and Hackmann’s (2006) study, the mentors did not recognize their roles in providing these leadership opportunities to interns. Alsbury and Hackmann (2006) surveyed mentors of an administrator preparation program. Respondents consistently indicated that they believed their roles to include (a) listening rather than advising, (b) asking reflective questions rather than offering answers, (c) maintaining frequent contact with mentees while taking responsibility for initiating communication, and (d) providing encouragement, empathy, and support as opposed to specific content knowledge and skills. The mentors’ views of their roles in this study focused much more on one of providing support than on one of providing essential leadership opportunities to further interns’ growth and preparation for administration.
Research that exists suggests there is further work to be done to understand the preparation and training needed by both mentors and interns prior to engaging in the administrative internship experience. This dearth in literature emphasizes the importance of current research that focuses on the contributions of both interns and mentors during the administrative internship.
Theoretical Framework
The research questions that guided this study explore the agency between two individuals: the administrative intern and the mentor principal. First, in considering the contributions of the administrative intern in the intern/mentor partnership, we relied on the work of Malcolm Knowles (1996). Research across fields has demonstrated that contextually relevant, real-world learning opportunities that foster self-reflection lead to better adult learning outcomes (Baugh, 2003; Boyatzis & Kolb, 1999). Such relevant, real-world learning opportunities are emblematic of the andragogical theory of adult learning (Knowles, 1996; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005). Andragogy presents core principles of adult learning, describing the characteristics of the learning interactions that take place between any adults engaged in a learning process (Knowles et al., 2005). While the pedagogical model provides responsibility for students’ learning to the teacher, the theory of andragogy is based on the understanding that adults learn best when they can inform what, when, and how they learn. As such, the andragogical theory of adult learning (Knowles, 1996) assisted us in understanding the contributions that aspiring administrators make during the administrative internship experience.
Knowles (1996) identified six foundational understandings about the manner in which adults acquire new skills most efficiently. These include the following:
Adults must understand the purpose for their learning and the benefits must be evident.
Adults need to be self-directed, in that they need to be an active participant in driving the learning agenda, plan, and evaluation.
Adults’ reservoir of experience is a rich resource for learning and must therefore be valued and incorporated into activities.
Adults are motivated to learn when they have a sense of immediacy and relevancy to the topic and a need to learn it.
Adults need more engagement in problem-solving and task-solving, than in content.
Adults are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated (Knowles, 1996).
In approaching this study, we theorized that if the administrative intern is attentive to the pillars of the andragogical theory of adult learning by demonstrating motivation to learn and being self-directed, as two examples, then the mentor is likely to provide leadership opportunities to the intern.
The supervising mentor principal plays an equally important role in contributing to the intern’s opportunity to lead authentic administrative tasks. Findings from our prior studies (Clayton & Thessin, 2017; Thessin & Clayton, 2013) suggested that mentor trust in the intern contributes to the intern’s opportunity for leadership. Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2000) reviewed existing definitions of trust in the literature to conclude: “Trust is one party’s willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is (a) benevolent, (b) reliable, (c) competent, (d) honest, and (e) open” (p. 556). These characteristics must be preceded by a willingness to risk, or be vulnerable (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 1999). In a summer internship experience, aspirant administrators have limited time to build trust to ensure they have the opportunity to lead, as opposed to observe, administrative tasks, and therefore must understand how to do so quickly. In answering our research questions, we considered how Knowles’ theory of andragogy intersected with the establishment of mentors’ trust in their interns in the provision of authentic leadership experiences to administrative interns.
Methodology
In prior studies we conducted utilizing surveys and interviews of both mentors and interns, results spotlighted the importance of the intern/mentor partnership (Clayton & Thessin, 2017; Thessin & Clayton, 2013 ) on the outcomes of the administrative internship. This study was designed to gain a more in-depth understanding of the contributions of both the intern and the mentor to the intern’s opportunity to obtain leadership experience during the internship. We utilized case study methodology to understand the partnership as a bounded system, to identify the particular characteristics of the partnership, to provide thick, rich descriptions of the intern/mentor pair, and to utilize longevity in the field by following the full internship period for each pair (Merriam, 1998).
This qualitative multiple case study profiles the work of six administrative intern and mentor partners during the May through August 2015 summer administrative internship experience. Interns were invited via course announcement and email to discuss the research opportunity with their mentors and six interns volunteered to participate. The interns’ mentors were subsequently invited and agreed to participate as well. Interns and mentors were provided with informed consent allowing them to withdraw from the study if needed. Qualitative research methods grounded this work and allowed the researchers to understand the contributions made by the intern and the supervising mentor at each school site (Merriam, 2002; Yin, 2013).
Context
As the majority of students in this program are full-time teachers or serve in teacher leadership roles, they complete one extended, full-time 175-hr internship course during the summer months when they are relieved of teaching responsibilities. Other administrative internship experiences are completed through smaller course-embedded projects, in addition to one 85-hr internship course. In total, more than 300 hr of administrative experiences are required by students in this program. Data were gathered for this study during the May through August summer administrative internship as interns completed their full-time, sustained internship experience of at least 175 hr. Students also participated in two class meetings, virtual check-ins with the university professor, and a meeting with both the intern and mentor that was organized by the course instructor.
This university administrative preparation program has multiple off-campus sites at which courses are offered, and students who participated in this research study completed coursework at three different off-campus locations. In some cases, the school districts with which this program partners assign placements and mentors; in other districts, students self-select their mentors and placements. The university provides an internship handbook and video to acclimate site mentors to the requirements of the administrative internship experience at this university. Mentors are asked to provide access to their interns, offer feedback to the intern throughout the experience (as well as feedback to the university partner), and complete an evaluation at the end of the course.
Data Sources
Six intern and mentor pairs participated in this study during the summer administrative internship experience. Among the six administrative interns included in the study, two completed their internships at elementary schools, three at high schools, and one at a middle school (see Table 1). The results reported in this article were based on two interviews conducted of each intern and mentor participating in the study; two observations conducted of the intern and the mentor working together during the summer internship experience; weekly log forms completed by the administrative interns; and journals submitted by the interns as part of their course requirements.
Study Participants.
The intern and the mentor were each interviewed at the beginning of the study to understand their hopes and goals for the internship experience. Each person was interviewed a second time upon completion of the internship to understand the types of administrative activities in which the intern engaged, the level of leadership assumed in each activity, and the factors that contributed to the mentor’s willingness to assign leadership responsibility to the intern. In addition, two observations were conducted during the administrative internship: one observation of a planning or debriefing meeting held between the mentor and the intern, and one in which the intern assumed sole or co-leadership of an administrative task (such as leading a meeting with faculty, facilitating an orientation for new students, etc.). Research team members also analyzed weekly log forms and journals kept by the interns, providing additional insight into the interns’ and mentors’ experiences. By gathering multiple types of data at each school location, data could be triangulated to develop a richer understanding of the contributions of the intern and the mentor at each case study site, after which themes were distilled across all locations.
Data Analysis
Each member of the research team gathered data on two specific intern-mentor pairs. All interview transcriptions were coded using ATLAS.ti software and reflective memos were recorded following each observation. As team members initiated data analysis, we engaged in regular discussions during which we shared findings and emerging themes from the data we had gathered. While we used both the principles of adult learning theory (Knowles, 1996) and Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2000) definition of trust to form an initial codebook, we paid particular attention to themes that emerged and to instances in which codes overlapped to identify the findings reported in this article. In addition, we strove to achieve intercoder agreement by having each member of the research team independently code and then compare and revise the codes we identified and individually defined to ensure we achieved similar results (Saldana, 2013).
Trustworthiness
Lincoln and Guba (1985) proposed that strong qualitative research demonstrates its rigor or trustworthiness by considering four components: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Credibility allows for the reader to determine that research findings are congruent with reality. Through triangulation of data sources in this study, as well as our work to engage in team coding and intercoder reliability, we worked to ensure credibility of our findings. Transferability describes the extent to which the findings are relevant to those in similar settings/situations. While programs providing internships are unique and have varied characteristics, the pairing of the intern/mentor may have transferability for these programs, as well as other mentoring models used in leadership development and induction. Articulating and describing in detail the research process to allow it to be replicable by the researchers or other researchers achieved dependability. Finally, confirmability requires researchers to provide subjectivity to be transparent about how our perspectives and backgrounds may have impacted our design, data collection, or analysis. All authors have engaged in preparing aspiring school leaders and work with practicing administrators. These experiences helped us build relationships with our participants and encouraged their authenticity. Conversely, our experience may have impacted how we analyzed our data, though our processes of coding and team engagement lessened this effect.
Results
After analyzing the data gathered from interns and mentors in this study, a number of themes emerged as contributions by the intern and the mentor that facilitated the intern’s leadership of authentic administrative experiences during the internship. These themes differed across the phases of the intern/mentor experience. The three phases that we identified were (a) establishing the partnership, (b) cultivating the mentoring relationship, and (c) learning through the leadership experience. In the first phase, we found that interns who were later provided with opportunities to lead administrative tasks had (a) demonstrated initiative and a strong work ethic, (b) utilized previous knowledge and work experience in their new role, and (c) planned for the internship with his or her mentor as the partnership was being established. Through these actions, administrative interns had demonstrated their reliability and honesty, contributing to the mentor’s establishment of trust in the intern and the cultivation of the mentoring relationship. In the third phase, interns who had effectively demonstrated their readiness in Phases 1 and 2 were then encouraged by the mentor to assume leadership responsibility for authentic administrative tasks. While the first phase was primarily dependent on the intern’s contributions, the second and third phases occurred as a result of the mentor’s contributions of trust and provision of authentic leadership experiences. Table 2 summarizes the types of administrative opportunities that interns in this study had to observe, participate in, and lead during the summer internship experience (Fry, Bottoms, & O’Neil, 2005).
Summary of Interns’ Level of Leadership in Administrative Tasks.
Note. STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Establishing the Partnership
First impressions, as evidenced through the intern’s initiative and work ethic, and steps taken to plan the internship experience early on influenced the contributions of the administrative interns and mentors in this study, thereby facilitating the intern’s opportunity to assume leadership responsibilities.
Intern’s demonstration of initiative and work ethic
One administrative intern initially impressed her mentor with her professionalism and her ability to easily adapt to any situation and add value to the administrative team. This mentor explained, It’s intelligence. So she has that. It’s broad experience, so we get a different look. It is people skills; she will call anybody, talk to anybody, chase down anything that needs to be done. It is willingness to learn. You know, she didn’t come in here and say, “well, this is how you have to do it.” She accepts that we have been successful and she adds value there. Those are the characteristics that she has for me.
Another mentor, Carol, indicated that her intern demonstrated a desire to be involved in administrative tasks and to take on responsibility. She shared, “I never kinda said, ‘Do you feel comfortable doing this?’ I just involved her in that process. And gave her an opportunity to become more involved but she naturally had an interest.” This mentor also added that Eileen, the intern, clearly communicated that she wanted and was able to do things herself, and due to the short length of the internship experience over the summer months, the mentor did not hold back any leadership experiences that she could offer. She stated, “It’s kind of like trial by fire . . . you don’t have a lot of time to build things out if you were being followed for a year or shadowed for a year so to speak.” In making this statement, Carol alluded to the importance of demonstrating work ethic and desire to be involved at the outset of the experience, particularly in a condensed summer administrative internship experience.
Other mentors described how their interns took initiative and added value to their roles, thereby demonstrating their strong work ethic early in the internship. One mentor, Lisa, talked about how her intern impressed her with the work she immediately began to do on one project she assigned. She explained, I think she kind of started taking the reins on her own. . . . Then she came to me saying, “I thought of a few more and I just went ahead and submitted those.” . . . Like, what? I didn’t even ask her to do that, but that’s great. She just kind of started—she knew what we were trying to do and she went after it herself.
Another intern, Anne, described how she also identified tasks to complete that would help her to fulfill her own goals and meet the needs of the school. She explained, “I think that made a good impression because I didn’t just go in and say, ‘Okay, what do you want me to do? . . . I was able to jump in and just saw a need and I took it up and helped them out.” Similarly, Charles, a mentor, noted, “If you match my work ethic then you’re on board.” He continued, “Do you love kids and do you love hard work? If you do, then you and I, we’re going to go far.” Conversely, in a case where establishing the intern and mentor relationship did not yield positive results, the mentor expressed that he observed a lack of initiative, as well as poor work ethic, from the intern. The intern also described the mentor’s inability to provide guidance and meaningful tasks. The mentor stated, “one area that I felt was lacking is, when [my intern] came in, there was no direction that he gave me as to what he was looking to do . . . [he] didn’t know what he was doing.” His intern said, “a lot of times, he would tell me . . . good leaders take initiative on things, but when I tried to take initiative on things, he would tell me what I did wrong rather than what I did right . . .” In this situation, while the mentor believed that it was the intern’s responsibility to take initiative, the intern identified that the mentor needed to support him in doing so and provide guidance where needed.
Previous knowledge and work experience
Aligning with the understandings of adult learning theory, intern/mentor partnerships were also stronger when interns had the chance to utilize their previous knowledge and work experiences. Some mentors explained that they considered the previous knowledge of their interns when delegating tasks, as well as the level of involvement the intern could take concerning that task. For instance, John admired Laura’s diverse background and perspective and encouraged her to speak up in leadership meetings and in interviews with perspective teachers. John shared, “The fact that she has traveled around . . . she had the opportunity to work in different situations.” Reflecting upon his decision to hire Laura as his assistant principal, he said, I think Laura would work better with us because of the skills she brings . . . our organization is small, this school is small, and if you get everybody in the same mindset, it’s yes, yes, yes, and you don’t think about other options. So bringing in somebody with complementary skills and outside experience would only help us grow.
Another mentor, Carol, asked her intern to develop plans to sustain the grant-funded program focused on literacy beyond the grant’s year of funding because Eileen’s expertise as a library media specialist provided her with essential skills she could use to complete this task.
On the contrary, Will held reservations about delegating leadership-related administrative tasks to Jeremy and instead assigned more menial and management-related tasks to him, based on his perceived lack of experience in education. These tasks included helping with emergency route plans and facilitating the building’s furniture requests. He explained his reasons for delegating these assignments to Jeremy: I think it’s important to know Jeremy is very young. He’s only been a teacher for three years. His only experience is in high school, so this is his first middle school experience . . . I think without me knowing Jeremy, a lot of the big areas [of school administration], I’m not going to trust him with that.
In this case, neither the mentor nor the intern made the attempt to identify how the intern could use his knowledge or experience in education to assist him in assuming leadership tasks.
Planning for the internship experience
While all current administrators who serve as mentors for aspiring interns in this university’s administrative preparation program are asked to provide leadership opportunities to their interns to prepare them for an administrative role, some mentors explicitly approached the intern/mentor relationship with this goal in mind. Carol and Eileen dedicated time to discussing Eileen’s goals for the internship experience and the standards she needed to fulfill as the internship commenced, thereby focusing the internship experience at the outset. “We had an opportunity to talk about her expectations and what she needed, the experiences that she really wanted to gain from working together,” Carol explained.
Many mentors, likewise, saw the need for interns to experience the full range of administration. In her initial interview, one intern stated of her first day with her mentor, “on day one, he immediately said, alright, let’s make sure you’re ready. . . . We want you to have a job at the end of this summer.” When describing the first task her mentor assigned, she stated, For him to let me, after a couple of days, take something on like that . . . it’s going to reflect on him. I mean, in the end, it’s him that’s going to take the brunt of whatever comes at him, and he’s like no, go ahead and do it.
That sense of empowerment by her mentor gave her the confidence to complete the task and gain the approval of the district’s Assistant Superintendent. She added, He was basically like, ‘You’re going to do everything that you would do if you were an assistant principal. Here you go.’ So I was never held back, was always invited in. And sometimes I was kind of like, ‘Oh, I can’t believe I’m privy to this information. I’m just an intern.’
Charles further noted the need for interns to have experiences to position them better for obtaining future positions and succeeding in them, saying, I hope that I’m providing them with a meaningful experience that they’ll be able to draw upon when they become administrators but also will be able to say, “I did X, Y and Z during my internship; so yes, I can answer your interview question,” so that they can get that job. But I don’t think you can draw upon experiences that you don’t have.
Interns also saw the need to understand the full, systemic picture of what was happening in the school or district. As one example, Anne noted, I hope they’re going to give me purposeful projects to work on, but I also really like that—or hope—that they talk to me. I just want to know everything that they—I want to know what they’re doing. I want to know why they’re doing it.
Catherine agreed in stating, “I hope to experience what it’s really like to be an assistant principal or principal. . . . So I hope to be ready to lead at the end of this.”
Cultivating the Mentoring Relationship
Once the partnership between the intern and mentor was established, it continued on a trajectory based on how it began. In Phase 1, administrative interns who had demonstrated their reliability and honesty contributed to the mentor’s establishment of trust in the intern and the cultivation of the mentoring relationship in Phase 2. The mentor’s belief in the intern’s capabilities affected his trust in the intern and accompanying willingness to ask the intern to assume leadership responsibilities for administrative tasks.
Mentors and interns both recognized the importance of the intern’s ability to identify areas that needed improvement or additional work, and to take leadership actions to address them. Taking this initiative throughout the internship experience led mentors to continue to give greater responsibility to their administrative interns. As one example, Anne noted, I think that they value initiative, like I said, to just not be afraid to take on any kind of projects that they’re going to have. But also, if you see something, a need that you hear them talking about and you have some experience in that area, for you to take the initiative and volunteer to take it on as a project, I think they kind of look for that.
John stated that the reason he was able to continue delegating administrative duties to his intern was her ability to follow through with tasks. “She does what she says she’s going to do and she does it well.” He continued by stating, I gave her a complex, thorny challenge about academic achievement . . . and when she set about that, she really dug in with it. She asked a lot of pertinent questions, listened to the overview on the politics, and met with our School Improvement Planning team.
The ability to rely on the administrative intern to complete the tasks assigned, and to do them well, as John explained, led to his establishment of trust in the intern and facilitated his further contributions to the partnership.
Building trust in the mentoring relationship
Interns and mentors in this study emphasized the importance of trust in their partnership. If a level of trust was cultivated and sustained, then intern and mentor pairs experienced fulfilling internship experiences; however, if trust was either not established or was weakened throughout the internship, it proved to be detrimental to both the learning experience of the intern as well as to the mentor’s willingness to provide authentic leadership experiences.
To one mentor, trust is given until it should be taken away when it is undeserved. When describing his leadership style, this mentor stated, “Mine is very distributive, participatory. I have a lot of trust. I believe in people. I value them. And they are able to do things without me standing over them telling them.” Of his intern, he said, She hasn’t done anything to make me question my trust in her. And I might be a trusting person. When I give somebody responsibility and I give them a lot of responsibility, my expectation is they’re going to do it. And as long as they do it . . . it’s fine. I lose trust in people when they don’t follow through. She hasn’t shown anything like that.
His intern thought about how to earn the trust of her mentor before they met. She asked her university supervisor to send her potential mentor a letter of endorsement. Of this request, she said, “I think he trusted that [the university] had kind of endorsed me, and so he took full advantage of using me in an administrative role.” She elaborated, “I wanted to validate myself in that I should be here and this is legitimate, and I’ve got somebody behind me, supporting me . . . she’s going to be a good candidate.” After she began her internship, she realized that it was because of her initiative and work ethic that she gained the trust of her mentor: I think my performance obviously has been great. The amount of trust he has in this intern that he doesn’t really know, but just walked into his school. So my own performance is going to either strengthen our trust or weaken it, depending on how dedicated I am to the whole process. I think also because I was very straightforward from the beginning about my intentions, he had a lot more respect for that. . . . So I appreciated that and I think he appreciated that and it helped with the trust.
In the case of Carol and Eileen, Eileen already had the trust of Carol upon assuming the role as her intern. They had established a prior working relationship when Eileen, a member of the division’s central office staff, had provided coaching support to a staff member at Carol’s school. Carol explained, “I already had built a trust, a level of communication, a level of understanding, a level of all these things with her prior. And then it became more of a different working relationship.” By having this trust already established, Eileen could immediately take responsibility for the summer school program as an administrative intern at this school site.
Charles and Catherine also developed an immediate trust, despite not knowing one another before the mentoring interaction. Charles valued work ethic and a commitment to the work. Charles also noted that Catherine’s assignment to the summer school for the duration of the program, unlike the placement of interns from other universities who were assigned for only 1 to 2 weeks, allowed him to place more responsibility on her from the outset. The trust that developed was mutual, as Catherine noted, I feel like sometimes he and I have the same brain. We just have the same thought processes and he was able—so he had trust in me, I think and I trusted his judgment where I felt confident enough to go and take the role.
Charles further explained, The trust came when she displayed evidence of being competent. When she wasn’t sure, she’d come to me, “Hey this is what I’m thinking. What do you think?” When our outcomes or decisions aligned, she felt more comfortable . . . Now we’ve come to a stage with the other interns where I haven’t turned it over, but with Catherine, I didn’t know about half the things that went on today.
Charles explained the importance of trust being mutual, saying, When you show people you are capable of managing high volumes of problems at the same time, you show them that you are good operationally. When you build relationships with people [and show them] that you care . . . they begin to trust you and build relationships.
In cases where the intern and mentor did not develop a mutually trusting relationship, the interns tried to pinpoint how the breakdown occurred. In one pairing, the intern stated, I think the trust factor is something I was missing. I don’t feel like he did trust me to be able to complete a task. I felt like he was like an overseer. Everything I did, he would want to show me something to do, and sometimes he’d end up just doing the task himself . . . the vibe I got from him was that he didn’t really trust me.
His mentor said, I think without me knowing [my intern], a lot of the big areas [of administration], I’m not going to trust him to lead that. I think his attention to detail and his organization are areas where he needs to improve, and so I would give him a project, but then I would always follow up behind to make sure that it was done the right way.
He continued by saying, “I think trust is developed over time in having a relationship with someone. . . . There are some things where you just have to develop some trust.” In this case, both intern and mentor did not feel that trust existed at any point during the internship.
Learning through the Leadership Experience
The types of authentic administrative experiences that interns had the opportunity to lead, and the degree to which they were asked to lead, rather than observe or participate, were influenced by the first two phases of the partnership. As interns proved that they were capable of completing administrative responsibilities and mentors developed trust in their interns, the mentors provided more authentic administrative leadership experiences to their interns.
Types of leadership experiences
In cases where the intern had demonstrated a strong work ethic at the outset of the internship and had established trust with the mentor, the mentor provided the intern with leadership opportunities that might have been assigned to current administrators at the school. These leadership experiences included, but were not limited to, leading a summer school program, leading a school-wide fundraising effort, organizing and running freshman orientation, monitoring all testing which occurred during the summer session, analyzing a district initiative focused on academic achievement and making recommendations for improvement, meeting with students and parents, and supporting teachers (see Table 2 for a complete list). In situations in which the administrator questioned the intern’s abilities and commitment, authentic administrative experiences were not offered to the intern.
Carol explained that Eileen generally observed, participated in, and then assumed leadership during the internship. One task in which Eileen’s role followed this trajectory was in conducting interviews for new teachers: She watched, she observed the first time we had a meeting and then the second time she actually participated in the interview and then she actually debriefed with us afterwards, providing her insight and feedback about the candidates and her perspectives.
One of Eileen’s primary responsibilities during the summer internship was to run the school’s 2-week science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused summer program. In assuming leadership for this program, Carol explained that Eileen received some training from the school division’s central office and then worked collaboratively with another summer school principal to run the school. She added that “[Eileen] already had the leadership skills and the abilities to do the role,” referring back to how Eileen had demonstrated her commitment to both assuming leadership responsibilities and how Carol had relied on Eileen’s previous work experience in placing her in this role.
Charles noted how Catherine demonstrated strong work ethic and commitment to the summer program, prompting him to assign her with leadership tasks and expanding the areas in which she gained experience. He said, I tried to allow her to be responsible for everything, to be responsible for operational sides and instructional sides. On the instructional side we went on a learning walk together and that was really to kind of—to coach her through instructional coaching and on instructional leadership, what to look for, what to ask, how to comment, how to align your feedback to all the tools that we have from the evaluation instrument and the rubric all the way to what is seen. So she had full authority. “Go into any classroom you want. Give them the feedback you deem necessary. We’re on the same page. We see things the same.” Operationally, every responsibility that she could possibly see or have a piece of, I gave her a piece of. . . . So she got to really dip her toe almost up to her knee I’d say in operational things. So I wanted to give her as broad a spectrum as possible.
Laura felt that John assigned tasks to her that a current administrator on his team would perform, such as analyze and revise current policies and propose a plan for a district initiative on academic achievement. Three weeks after her internship began, she interviewed for and was hired as an assistant principal to her mentor. She stated, It wasn’t that I was free labor so much as that I was there as somebody he wanted to cultivate into a future administrator and a future administrator that he would want to work with. I think that was the biggest thing, it was him [saying],
In instances when intern and mentor pairs did not have a well-established beginning to the partnership, mentors tended to assign tasks that were not leadership-oriented and were not directly applicable to the intern’s role as a future school administrator. In one case, after stating that he spent “almost half of his time” answering phones, Jeremy said, “I think a lot of involvement he had me in were things that I honestly don’t think he wanted to do.” He went on to describe the types of tasks he was assigned, such as assembling furniture and removing staples from bulletin boards. When describing the administrative tasks Jeremy completed, his mentor said, “He is kind of the go-to guy now for attendance . . . and is helping supervise in the cafeteria, kind of working with the cafeteria staff.” Of the experiences he was assigned during his internship, Jeremy stated, “a lot of that building stuff that he had me do . . . I don’t think they served me at all.”
Discussion
Research demonstrates that aspiring administrators acquire essential leadership skills when they have the opportunity to observe, participate in, and most importantly, lead, administrative tasks during the administrative internship (Thessin & Clayton, 2013; Fry et al., 2005). However, interns can only gain these skills when they are given the chance to assume authentic administrative responsibilities by the mentor principal, as required by the NELP standards. In this study, we found that interns who were given the opportunity to lead administrative tasks and acquire new leadership skills during the summer internship developed partnerships with their mentor principal in three phases. These intern/mentor pairs first established the partnership, then cultivated the mentoring relationship, and finally had the opportunity to learn through their leadership experiences. Both Knowles’ foundational understandings of adult learning and the establishment of trust in the intern/mentor partnership, as described in our theoretical framework, were essential to interns’ abilities to progress through the three phases.
The themes that emerged from our data within the three phases of the partnership development aligned closely with five of the six foundational understandings of andragogy identified by Knowles (1996): self-direction, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, previous knowledge, understanding of the purpose for learning, and engagement in problem-solving and task-solving. Table 3 lists Knowles’ principles in the left-hand column with the corresponding theme that describes the development of the intern/mentor partnership as it emerged from our findings. No specific evidence emerged in our findings relative to one of Knowles’ foundational understandings of andragogy: the importance of immediacy and relevancy. Interns did speak about their desires to obtain their administrative license and to obtain an administrative position in interviews, thereby communicating their motivation to perform well during the administrative internship as a whole. However, we did not find that their knowledge of the relevancy of the internship contributed to the development of the intern/mentor partnership; instead, interns needed to demonstrate motivation through their willingness to take initiative and the demonstration of work ethic in the internship.
Alignment of Themes in the Development of the Intern/Mentor Relationship to Knowles’ Principles of Adult Learning.
Furthermore, one key theme in our findings was not clearly connected to Knowles’ theory of andragogy: the theme of building trust in the intern/mentor relationship. Findings from the cases in our research revealed that when interns first demonstrated initiative and work ethic, mentors subsequently gained trust in their interns’ commitment to the work and in their competence and reliability, as explained by Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (1999) in their definition of trust. These mentors provided interns with the opportunity to assume leadership tasks and to learn from these experiences, thereby extending inclusiveness and openness to the intern to continue to assume new leadership responsibilities. These mentors also made themselves available to interns for support and feedback, thus gaining a level of reciprocal trust. Similarly, Weinberg, Mulki, and Lankau (2015) found that mentors who held the sophisticated belief that the learning process is an “effortful” one were more likely to take a risk to allow their protégés to feel self-confident to build their own identities within the organization. This was the case even if the mentor believed that he or she may experience negative consequences. Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (1999) explained that trust must be preceded by a willingness to take risks, a willingness that emerged after the intern had demonstrated his commitment and reliability to the work. In one case in our study, the mentor did not trust the intern’s ability to follow through and complete a leadership task. The mentor, then, did not display openness and availability to the intern, and the intern believed that his contributions were inadequate. A low level of trust was present within this relationship. The establishment of trust is a key contribution of the mentor in the development of the intern/mentor partnership that is not included as a component of Knowles’ theory. Based on our findings, we developed a framework to guide intern and mentor partnerships during the administrative internship experience.
A Framework for Intern and Mentor Partnerships
The conceptual framework we developed, the Educational Leadership Mentoring Framework (ELMF), delineates the phases in which Knowles’ theory of andragogy are relevant in the intern/mentor relationship and adds the additional factor of trust, which we found to be critical to the development of the intern/mentor relationship in our study. Knowles’ principles are displayed in Figure 1 in the phase in which they emerged in our findings. Four of these principles—self-direction, motivation, previous knowledge, and understanding of the purpose for learning—were identified in our findings as themes within Phase 1. To facilitate the intern’s opportunity to reach Phase 3 of the relationship, in which the intern is provided with the greatest opportunity to engage in authentic leadership experiences, the intern must have demonstrated his capabilities in Phase 1 and the mentor would have then extended trust for the intern in Phase 2. Notably, Phase 3, which includes the opportunity for the intern to be engaged in leading administrative tasks that require problem-solving and task-solving, another of Knowles’ foundational understandings, can only result after trust has been established.
The Educational Leadership Mentoring Framework.
While the first two phases of the mentoring relationship detailed by Kram (1983) share some similarities with the experiences of the intern/mentor partners in our study, we found that the roles of the interns and mentors in each phase of the administrative internship were quite unique. Specifically, while the first phase of the intern and mentor partnership is dependent on the intern’s readiness for and commitment to the work, the intern’s ability to progress through Phase 2 and into Phase 3 relies on the mentor, though not to the exclusion of the influence of the intern. Following the intern’s display of initiation and work ethic, and his or her engagement in planning the internship experience in Phase 1, in Phase 2 of the ELMF, the mentor needed to provide the intern with the opportunity to assume some leadership tasks and to learn from these experiences, thereby extending inclusiveness and trust in the intern’s abilities to continue to assume responsibility for new leadership responsibilities. When the mentor cultivated the relationship with the intern in this way, the quality of the internship improved. Then, in Phase 3, interns who had effectively demonstrated their readiness in Phases 1 and 2 were encouraged to assume full leadership responsibility for administrative tasks and to engage in problem- and task-solving as a full-time administrator, thereby providing these interns with the preparation and experience to later become effective leaders. This model communicates how both the administrative intern and the supervising mentor contribute to the intern’s opportunity to engage in an authentic leadership experience during the summer internship experience, clearly demonstrating the intersection of Knowles’ theory of andragogy with the establishment of mentors’ trust in their interns.
Conclusion
The NELP standards require that all aspiring administrators engage in authentic, school-based leadership experiences to prepare them for their future roles. The mentor principal plays a critical role in ensuring interns receive these authentic leadership experiences, yet how are these leadership experiences specifically generated? In this study, we found that interns who were given the opportunity to lead administrative tasks and acquire new leadership skills during the administrative internship, experiences that prepare them to later become effective school leaders, contribute to their own opportunity to lead in specific ways, which, in turn, affect the mentor’s contributions. Interns and mentors first established the partnership, then cultivated the mentoring relationship, and finally engaged in learning through the leadership experience. While these three phases of development align closely with five of Knowles’ six foundational understandings of andragogy, the establishment of trust also emerged as a key component of the development of the intern/mentor partnership. We developed the ELMF to delineate the phases in which Knowles’ principles are relevant in this relationship and added the additional factor of trust.
These findings have important ramifications for leadership preparation programs. First, because interns’ demonstration of initiative and work ethic, application of their prior experiences, and time spent planning the internship in Phase 1 greatly affected their internship experiences in Phases 2 and 3, leadership preparation programs must dedicate time to coaching interns on how to succeed in Phase 1 of the partnership. As Phases 2 and 3 are more mentor dependent, in that mentors must provide interns with the opportunity to assume some leadership tasks and to learn from these experiences, thereby extending a measure of trust to the intern, leadership preparation programs also need to consider how best to partner with current administrators in the field and prepare them to serve as successful mentors. As most site mentors are not compensated for serving in this role, preparation programs must strike a balance between providing essential guidance while not requiring participation in numerous additional trainings.
As university preparation programs rely on school-based or district-based mentors to supervise interns in the developmental process of applying classroom experiences to the practical world, it is critical that we continue to seek to understand the nature of these partnerships. These case studies provided an in-depth look at six pairings and also utilized cross-case analysis to identify the common contributions that led the intern to engage in authentic leadership experiences. These findings will allow for deeper and ongoing exploration to inform the preparation of interns and mentors to establish an effective partnership in the administrative internship.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.