The nationwide teacher shortage has led to a shortage of fully trained teacher to hire leaving schools more open to hiring nontraditional teachers. Within this study, a nontraditional teacher is one who did not complete a formal teacher education process that included student teaching. These teachers are left to rely on their mentoring process for guidance and support. The current mentoring program is organized under the assumption that teachers have student taught and therefore does not provide the consistency of design to be relied on so heavily for new teacher training. Teachers and administrators were surveyed and interviewed to determine their perceptions regarding the quality of the mentoring process as it currently exists and to provide suggestions for reform if necessary. This qualitative study was designed to determine to what extent teacher mentoring programs have a positive impact on teacher preparedness and teacher retention. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]