The Strategic Support to Thrive Beyond Survival Model: An Administrative Support Framework for Improving Student Outcomes and Addressing Educator Staffing in Rural and Urban High-Needs Schools

Abstract

This paper presents an empirically grounded conceptual model that positions the principal as the talent developer, who when provided mentorship on how to strategically scaffold their teachers, will improve their own self-efficacy and competencies to provide better administrative support. Not only will this mentorship decrease their feelings of job-related overburden and improve their retention, but they will also jointly increase teacher support (thereby reducing their turnover) and increase performance by improving student learning. The model advances scholarship by addressing administrative and leadership mentoring and role modeling in cross-cultural contexts through a multi-level framework (i.e., mentorship to school leaders on how to mentor and support teachers), with the goal of improving social justice through the advancement of social inclusion. The paper will interrogate how mentoring and development is conceived by distinguishing the different types of administrative support that leaders in rural and urban high-needs (high poverty and low-performing) schools must provide for their teachers in their respective settings. The relevance of these distinctions and the emphasis of the paper for an international context will be discussed.