Investigation of Mentorship Process and Programs for Professional Development of School Principals in the U.S.A.: The Case of Georgia

The aim of this research is to investigate mentorship process and programs which are designed for professional development of primary and middle school principals in the State of Georgia, U.S.A. With this aim, a qualitative research model and a semi-structured interview technique was used in order to gather in-depth knowledge. The study group consisted of seven experienced school principals who have served or are serving as mentors of novice principals and seven new school principals who are being served or were served by experienced mentor principals in Georgia. In this study, face-to-face interviews with principals as both mentors and mentees were conducted by the researcher. According to the results, mentorship contracts generally last one year based on building trust between mentors and mentees. During this year, school visits of mentors as well as formal phone calls between mentors and mentees are carried out regularly. Both mentors and mentees indicated that mentorship was very important for professional development of new school principals. The results showed that mentors were thought as crucial support partners for new principals who helped them accustom to their jobs and provided them with valuable guidance.

ith the increasing emphasis on effective schools beginning with 1970s and 1980s, it has been accepted that there is a significant relationship between effective school leadership and student achievement (Browne-Ferrigno, 2003;Edmonds, 1979;Hallinger, 2005;Hallinger & Heck, 1996;Leithwood & Jantzi, 2008;Marzano, Waters & McNulty, 2005, Sergiovanni, 1991. Therefore, the importance of preparing effective school leaders has been one of the most discussed educational topics related to student achievement and school effectiveness. It has specifically been emphasized that principals need continuous professional development opportunities to improve their leadership skills and to remain current (Daresh, 1998;Evans & Mohr, 1999;Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, 2007;Gumus & Bellibas, 2016;Nelson & Sassi, 2005;Zepeda, 2012).
Accelerating effects of accountability movement beginning with 2000s also put pressure on principals in improving student performance and involving in instruction, curriculum and data analysis (Butler, 2008). Many states and districts in the USA have focused on developing effective principals by providing quality professional development opportunities (Kearney, 2010). In addition to the traditional approaches, mentoring and peer coaching programs have also been designed to assist principals as a part of their ongoing professional development (Alsbury & Hackmann, 2006;Crow & Matthews, 1998). From this point, especially in the last decade, it has been thought that mentorship which allows experienced principals (mentors) help their colleagues (mentees) in their first years of principalship (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004;Crow & Matthews, 1998) is one of the most important type of professional development (Bush & Coleman, 1995;Casavant & Cherkowski, 2001;Crow & Matthews, 1998).
It is well supported in the literature that mentorship plays a crucial role in strengthening school leadership (Daresh, 2007;Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennet, 2004;Grogan & Crow, 2004;Gumus & Bellibas, 2016). Grissom and Harrington (2010) conclude that there is a positive relationship between principal effectiveness and principals' participation in formal mentoring programs. Mentoring process and mentoring programs enhance the leadership capacity through providing opportunities of sharing information and practices between experienced and novice principals (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004). Therefore, mentoring programs are thought as important means of preparing novice principals by helping them to develop new skills needed for the changing and competing demands . It is also well argued in the literature that mentors themselves can significantly benefit from mentoring programs in addition to mentees and school systems (Allen, Lillian, Mark, & Lizzette, 2004;Bush & Coleman, 1995;Daresh, 2001;Drago-Severson, 2001;Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennet, 2004;Harris & Crocker, 2003;Kay, Hagan, & Parker, 2009;Russell & Adams, 1997).
In this context, the purpose of this study is to investigate the mentorship process and programs, which are designed for professional development of primary and middle school principals in the State of Georgia, U.S.A. In this research, it was planned to determine the main characteristics of these programs, which have been implemented quite similarly in the most states of the U.S.A. With this aim, efforts were taken to present the characteristics of mentoring programs used in the training process of principals and the positive effects of these programs on principals' professional development. In this research, the study focus was on the mentors' and mentees' views on mentorship. In order to get concrete information about the mentorship, participants were asked to provide some important information about the criteria used to determine the mentors, what they thougt about the effectiveness of mentoring programs, what practices mentors used to help mentees, and how mentors and mentees benefit from these programs.

What is Mentorship?
The concept of mentorship comes from the history that is based on Homer's Odyssey. The teacher of Odysseus's son was a mentor who guided, protected, and educated unexperienced Telemachus (Conyers, 2004;Daresh, 1995;Johnson, 2002;Kram, 1985). With the light of this information, mentor has been prevailed as a wise and patient counselor who guides the life of less experienced colleagues (Daresh & Playko, 1990;Daresh, 1995). According to Smith (2007), mentorship is "a particular mode of learning wherein the mentor not only supports the mentee, but also challenges them productively so that progress is made" (p. 277). According to Ashburn, Mann, and Purdue (1987), mentorship is "establishment of a personal relationship for the purpose of professional instruction and guidance" (p. 1).
In the existing literature, there are also many definitions of "mentor". According to Crosby (1999), mentor is an experienced and trustworthy person who is responsible for the development of the less experienced people. As Wasden (1988) defined, a mentor is "a master at providing opportunities for the growth of others, by indentifying situations and events that contribute knowledge and experience of the life of the steward" (p.6). Ragins and McFarlin (1990) call a mentor as "high-ranking, influential member of an organization who has advanced experience and knowledge and who is committed to providing upward mobility and support to mentees' career" (p. 321).
In the educational settings, Bush and Coleman (1995) define the mentor as a peer who supports new pincipals in managing their transition from teacher to principal. Hall (2008) indicates that mentoring for effective leadership builds bridges with the help of which principals transfer their knowledge, experience, and skills to novice principals. According to Lindley (2009), "mentoring is about helping the beginning principal become successful, to gain confidence and perform effectively, and to learn how to anticipate and plan for the successful accomplishment of duties" (p. 142).
The concept of mentorship has been used to identify teachers, new and experienced school leaders since the late 1980s (Alsbury & Hackmann, 2006;Daresh, 2004). In the early 1990s, the mentoring programs which have been established to help the principals acquire necessary experiences and skills  are began to find their place in university-based preparation programs (Crow & Matthews, 1998) and widely adopted as an important part of professional development in many countries such as UK, Singapore, Australia, and the U.S.A. (Bush & Chew, 1999;Bush & Coleman, 1995;Casavant & Cherkowski, 2001

Benefits of Mentorship to Mentors
It has been well discussed in the literature that mentorship and mentoring programs provide essential benefits to mentees; however, there is a restricted number of studies about these benefits on the part of mentors. As Daresh and Playko (1992) discussed, the influence of mentorship might be more effective on mentors when compared to mentees. Mentorship has many benefits to the mentors who are practicing as school leaders for many years. Daresh (2001) identifies the benefits of mentoring to mentors as having career development opportunities, higher job satisfaction, effective peer relationship, and personal renewal for the work. In many existing studies, it is reported that organizational recognition, personal job satisfaction, and increased support from the members of the organization are the most commonly observed benefits of mentorship to mentors (Allen, 1997;Bozionelos, 2004;Cordeiro & Smith-Sloan, 1995;Daresh & Playko, 1992;Eby & Lockwood, 2005;Kram, 1985).
In the extant literature, new information and skills, development in leadership capacity, and improvement of work performance are also emphasized as important proceeds of serving as mentors to others (Eby & Lockwood, 2005;Kram, 1985;Mullen & Noe, 1999;Reich, 1986). In her comprehensive study, Dukess (2001) concluded that serving as a mentor might help school principals in several ways. Results of her study show that principals who serve as a mentor become more reflective and critical about their own practices, have a public recognition of success, have a deep understanding of teaching and learning, effectively communicate with their staff, and grow personally and professionally. Ehrich, Hansford, and Tennet (2004) cite the benefits of mentoring process in terms of mentors as self reflection, personal satisfaction, professional development, and networking. In their study, Hansford and Ehrich (2006) similarly showed that networking, collegiality, support and high levels of trust are the most identified gains of mentorship for practicing principal serving as mentors. Lastly, Bush and Coleman (1995) indicated that the mentoring experiences provided the mentors with improved problem solving skills, valuable insight into current practice in schools, gaining knowledge about different approaches of school leadership, and being able to discuss professional topics with colleagues.

Benefits of Mentorship to Mentees
In the literature, it has been well argued that novice principals gain significant benefit from professional development activities which provides job-embedded learning opportunities (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004). Zepeda (2008) argued that job embedded professional development activities help the participants transfer their expertise to practice permanently. Mentorship is one of the well-known job-embedded professional development activities and it provides many advantages for mentees as discussed in the literature (Bruckner, 2001;Daresh, 2004). Effective mentoring has the potential to provide the support for job-embedded professional development (NAESP, 2003). Daresh (2004) define major benefits that novice principals might gain from mentoring process as confidence about their professional competence, put theory into daily practice, effective communication skills, and knowledge of how to lead from senior administrators, and sense of belonging to their new possession. According to Playko (1995)'s study, the novice principals who are mentored by experienced principals report that they gain self-confidence with competence, practical knowledge and skills, feeling of socialized to their new profession, and increased professional networking as a result of being a part of mentoring programs.
In their study, Hansford, Tennet, and Ehrich (2002) identified the outcomes of mentoring on the part of mentees as motivation, career satisfaction, positive advice, and promotion opportunities. Novice principals report that they learn new ideas and professional knowledge and gain problem-solving skills by the help of mentorship (Casavant & Cherkowski, 2001) and their mentors provided them with socialization to their profession, self-confidence, collegial network, and professional feedback (Daresh, 2004). In their study, Bush & Coleman (1995) identify significant benefits of mentorship on the part of new principals such as increased confidence and self-esteem, socialization, and having a chance of sharing ideas and concerns with experienced principals. According to Southworth (1995), there are many advantages of mentorship for mentees and he defines these advantages as facilitating peer contact and support, increasing individual's sense of occupational and self-satisfaction, providing new school principals with selfreflection opportunities. As emphasized in the research, mentorship provides new principals with a high degree of effectiveness which helps them enhance their leadership skills (Malone, 2001).

Effective Mentorship/Mentoring Programs
Whitaker (2001) emphasize that there is an increasing need to help the new principals accustom to their roles and responsibilities in the new century. In this context, formal and informal mentoring programs are essential in providing ongoing support and advice for current or new principals. Mentoring programs could be thought as one of the critical key elements to help the school leaders in their school settings (Silver, Lochmiller, Copland, & Tripps, 2009). In the recent decade, mentoring programs have been emphasized as an important mean of enhancing the quality of principals and principal mentoring programs have been designed to provide support for the principals in adapting new leardership skills and deal with the competing demands of the new era in many developed countries (Bolam, McMahon, Pocklington, Weindling, 1994;Bush & Coleman, 1995;. The increasing popularity of mentoring programs could be thought as a result of understanding of school principals' crucial role in improving schools and learning (The Wallace Foundation, 2007). According to Malone (2001), "never before has the need for effective mentoring programs for principals been more urgent" (p. 3). Hall (2008) states that "establishing a formal program as part of a professional development plan is crucial for the success of the mentoring process" (p. 451), Browne-Ferrigno and Muth (2004) affirm that the importance of mentoring programs come from their ability to support the values and priorities of the school district and claim that effective leadership requires to have a formal mentoring program. Muse, Thomas, and Wasden (1992) define the best mentoring programs as carefully designed with the collaboration of the school districts and the university personnel The selection and preparation of principal mentors as a part of an effective mentoring program has been broadly emphasized in the literature. Daresh (1988) declares that "only the very best principals can serve as true mentors, and care must be constantly exercised to make certain that the 'best of the best' become role models and mentors" (p. 26). Dukess (2001) define successful mentors as the school leaders who are good listener and communicator, reflective, and compassionate. According to Dukess (2001), these successful mentors provide new principals with instructional, administrative, and emotional support. Hall (2008) indicates that both the mentors and mentees should meet on a common ground in terms of their roles and responsibilities in the mentor/mentee relationship to be a part of an effective mentoring program. Along with the selecting the right person as a mentor, the importance of training of these mentors is also discussed well in the literature and cited as one of the key component of an effective mentoring program (Ehrich et al., 2004).
Effective mentoring programs are seen as important development tools to support individuals in learning more about an organization and accostuming to the culture of the organization (Boerema, 2011). Therefore, mentoring programs should be designed to provide role clarification, professional feedback, and socialization into the profession. Also, these programs are expected to decrease the feeling of isolation which is mostly experienced by new school principals. At the same time, mentoring programs must be created to help new principals "gain insights into trends, issues, and social realities that go beyond existing practices" (Daresh, 2004, p. 512

Method
This research investigates the mentorship process and programs of primary and middle school principals in the U.S.A. The aim of the study is to understand mentor and mentee principals' perceptions about mentoring process and programs. In accordance with this aim, a qualitative research model and a semi-structured interview technique was used in order to gather in-depth knowledge about the experiences of mentors and mentees. Miles and Huberman (1994) indicate that qualitative techniques lead to collect rich data which allow the researcher to assess the participants' perspectives of the program to be evaluated. According to Creswell (2003), "the intent of qualitative research is to understand a particular social situation, event, role or interaction." (p.198). As Snape and Spencer emphasize, "qualitative methods are used to address research questions that require explanation or understanding of social phenomena and their contexts" (p. 5).

Participants
The participants of the study were selected by using criterion sampling which is a type of purposeful sampling designs widely used in qualitative research with the aim of identification and selection of information-rich cases (Patton, 2002). The study group consisted of seven experienced school principals who have served or are serving as mentors of novice principals and seven new school principals who are being served or were served by experienced mentor principals in the State of Georgia, U.S.A. The criteria set for the principal mentors and mentees in this study are as follows: Mentors; (1) currently serving or had served as mentor in a public primary or middle school; mentees; (1) being currently mentored or were mentored by mentor principals at their first 3 years. The demographic characteristics of the mentor and mentee principals are shown in Table 1. As seen in Table 1, the researcher tried to increase the variation of the participants as much as possible in terms of gender, age, experience, and school type. As expected, however, mentor principals participated in the research are more experienced than mentee principals. All participants have at least Master's degree since it is required to be a principal in Georgia. In addition, one mentor principal has a PhD degree.

Data Collection Tool
The data of this study was collected with the interview protocol prepared by the researcher. An interview protocol including questions related to different aspects of the mentorship practices was prepared for both mentor and mentee principals after reviewing the related literature. After preparing the draft form of the questions, well-known Professors of the field from both Turkey and the United States who have expertise on this topic reviewed the form. Based on their suggestions, the protocol was developed and become ready for the interviews. Some of the interview questions that were used during the interview are as follow: Is there any criterion to be selected as a mentor in your district? Can you describe the mentoring programs and process for new school principals in your district? According to your experiences, how does mentoring support professional development of new school principals? What are the benefits that you have gained from the mentorship process? What are the difficulties you encountered in mentoring process?

Data Collection
In this study, face-to-face interviews with both mentor and mentee principals were conducted by the researcher in order to gain in-depth information about the mentorship process. Seidman (1998) defines the purpose of interview technique as revealing individuals' experiences and the way of giving meaning to these experiences rather than testing or evaluating the hypotheses. According to Merriam (2002), when qualitative interviews are used in research, the readers can make inferences about the transferability of 7(1) 15 study results. In this study, the semi-structured interview approach was used with open-ended questions in order to get: (a) demographic information about the participants, (b) participants' views on mentorship process. The participants were encouraged to respond to the questions freely and openly (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). When necessary, follow-up questions were used throughout the interviews to clarify the expressions of the participants and clarify transcript content. Each of the interviews took about 30-45 minutes and each participant read and signed the informed consent form.

Data Analysis
The interviews were recorded with audio recorder in order to assure the accurate transcription with the permission of participants. The researcher also had hand-written notes to keep on track and facilitate data analysis. The recorded data was transcribed into a Microsoft World document. The data was transcribed concurrently with listening to the records. Transcribed data were cross-checked by sending them to the participants to ensure the accuracy of the sentences. The reviewed data were analyzed using the content analysis method that is used to interpret the content of the data with the help of coding and identifying themes (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). During the analyzing process, Creswell's (2009) data analysis and coding procedures were followed by the researcher. In the first step, the data was transcribed into word document as explained above in order to organize and prepare data for analysis. As a second step, the whole transcribed data was examined carefully in order to have information about the data and understand the ideas covered by the participants. In the third step, the coding process began and the answers of the participants were segmented into categories. Then in step 4, the codes that establish descriptions of the setting were grouped under categories. In step 5, the data was converted to narrative passage with the direct quotations of the participants. As a final step, the data was interpreted.

Validity and Reliability
In qualitative studies, validity and reliability are described as important factors that the researchers need to consider in the process of designing a study and analyzing the data (Patton, 2002). In the existing literature, reliability is defined as the extent to which the measurements of any test provide the same results and remain consistent on repeated tests, and validity is defined as measuring what it is intended to measure (Carmines & Zeller, 1991). In this study, in terms of the internal validity, the interview protocol was reviewed by experienced professors from the field and recommended corrections were done according to the provided feedback. In terms of external validity, detailed description of the data, participants, research model, data collection tool, data collection, and data analysis process were clearly ensured.
For the reliability of the study, both the researcher and a subject-area expert coded a sample of the data individually and then the codes were reviewed and compared for consistency. The level of reliability was calculated by the following formula developed by Miles and Huberman (1994): Reliability = [Consensus/ (Consensus + Disagreement)] x 100. In this study, the reliability coefficent was calculated as 0.92 which is greater than the defined appropriateness rate of coding process (80%) by Büyüköztürk et al. (2011).

Mentorship process from the views of mentors
The school principals who have served as mentors for new school principals were asked about the criteria to be selected as mentors in their district as well as the characteristics of the mentorship process and programs. Responses of the mentor principals were categorized into six different themes.

The Criteria to be selected as a Mentor
The mentor principals who participated in this research were asked about the criteria to be selected as a mentor in their district. All of the mentors stated that they were not aware of any specific criterion to be selected as a mentor; however, they all defined the basic requirement as experience in principalship position. M1 and M7 shared their opinions regarding this question as the following: There is not any specific criterion that I can define, but I can say that especially experienced, good examples are selected as mentors (M1).
I am not aware of any criterion, but experienced principals are preferred to be assigned as mentors (M7).
Furthermore, three mentors (M3, M4, and M6) stated that the selection process of the mentors depended on the district and emphasized that the district decided to assign whoever was suitable for this title. These participants also mentioned that retired principals were also prefered as mentors to new principals since they had crucial experiences and flexible time. The opinions are given as follows: The decision to select somebody as a mentor depends on the district. In our district, assistant principals and new school principals are accepted as mentees. The district tries to support them by providing mentors who are experienced school principals. Sometimes, retired principals are chosen since they have much more time than performing principals (M3).
We do not have specific criterion. The district usually decides to assign the mentor. Especially experienced and good example principals are preferred. Some districts prefer retired principals because of both their experience and flexible time (M6). Besides defining having experience in the profession or being a retired principals, one (M4) principal mentioned that the building principals at a school were selected as mentors for the new principals at the same school. He explained his experiences about this question as following: Especially experienced principals are selected. Sometimes, like my experience, the building principals are assigned as a mentor to the principal at the same building. Sometimes, I see that retired principals are hired as mentors to new principals (M4).

The Characteristics of the Mentorship Process or Programs
When the mentor principals were asked to describe the characteristics of their mentorship process or program, all of the principals provided detailed information about these programs or process. They stated that mentors served as support systems for new principals and as a part of this system, the mentees could call or text their mentors whenever they had problems related to teachers, students, curriculum, etc. M1 emphasized the importance of mentorship process for new school principals and expressed the details of his mentoring process with his mentees as following: These people especially help the new principals when they pick up the phone and ask them their questions. The process always begins with an initial school visit. By this way, we have an opportunity as a mentor to shadow the way that the new principal is working, interacting with others, learning about the demographics of their building, there is kind of a pre-phone call interview to learn more about the principal, their history, their schools, demographics, information we try to find out what they would want from the mentoring experience. The contracts are typically for one year. I make a couple school visits, like at the beginning of the year, middle of the year and at the end of the year. Each month, I have probably one-hour phone call just to support my mentee, how it is going and those kinds of things (M1).
Consistent with this statement, M5 also stressed the importance of school visits in mentoring new school principals and described her mentoring process as follows:

My mentorship begins with my visit to mentees' school and building. I try to determine some of the challenges that they have in their building, what they are hoping to gain from the mentorship and really try to establish some norms and try to explain what mentoring is and is not. First building the relationship. I suggest no less than one on site visit each month and then we build virtual calls by either Skype or phone at least two times a month. Also, my mentees has unlimited access to me. What it means is they can text me, ask for advice, tell a situation and ask what they should do in that kind of situation (M5).
M1, M2, and M5 defined the pre-surveys they used in order to have detailed information about the professional development needs of their mentees as important components of mentorship process. They indicated that these pre-surveys provided them with valuable information about the strenghts and weaknesses of their mentees and helped them to create an agenda that they could follow during their mentorship. According to their experiences:

Development of School Principals in the U.S.A. average twice a month, and each meeting lasts couple of hours. The one I am doing now is basically mentoring and shadowing a new principal (M2).
Furthermore, four mentors (M1, M2, M4, and M5) stated that they followed an agenda, which focused on the areas that should be improved in professional developent process of their mentees. They mentioned that by following those agendas, they could discuss the issuesproblems or topics that their mentees needed to talk about in order to support their mentees improvement. Conversely, M3, M6, and M7 underlined the fact that they did not follow any agenda and they mainly indicated that the topics they talked about were depended on the issues the mentees were dealing at their schools. They shared their experiences as following:

We just sit and talk about what happened during the week in the building. Talk about his career, future, and I make recommendations for his professional development that he may consider to better help him in their position. I tell him what to do when he meets his staff, how to communicate with them. We do not follow an agenda; it looks like an open conversation (M3).
There is not an agenda we follow, if there are certain issues or I feel that something is important for managing the school; I meet with him and talk about these issues. Generally, we brainstorm together. But, mostly my mentee come to me when he has an issue about the staff or situations at school. When we meet, we talk about conversations, effective communication with parents; we mostly talk about discipline, professional development (M6).

How Mentorship Support the Development of New Principals
The mentors who participated in this study were asked to explain their thoughts about how mentorship supports professional development of new principals. Most of the mentors reached a consensus on the statement that 7(1) 21 mentorship provides a support person for new principals with whom they could share experiences, school related problems or concerns. These mentors stated that new principals do not know so much about how to handle situations at schools and the mentorship prepares them for principalship. M6 expressed her opinions as following: Mentoring is another way to encourage new principals. They help the principals to accustom their profession. It provides a better understanding of what requires to be successful in the role and how it is different than the role they are coming out of. It provides information and knowledge that the new principals did not have before and opportunities to be familiar with their buildings (M6).
M1 and M5 stressed the role of mentorship in prioritizing the profession. M5 shared the thoughts regarding this process as follows: The mentoring supports professional development in a way that new principals prioritize their profession. It increases their skills; also it helps to identify what would be influential for their school and the success of their schools. It really helps them create priorities around professional growth that will influence their school. Mentoring allows the mentor to help the mentee think critically. It provides specific skills around paraphrasing, questioning and prioritizing so that the mentees can come to those things on their own (M5).
Beside, M1, M2, and M3 emphasized the crucial role of mentorship in helping the new principals be aware of the changes in the education settings and providing them with a good understanding of their position as a principal. Some of the opinions related to this issue are given below: Mentorship pushes the thinking of the mentee to really self discover, resolve, create, and think about the solutions to the issues and gain knowledge about active questioning, active listening, and objective feedback. Once they work through these different pieces, they learn how I believe that mentoring process is necessary for new school principals. One of the reasons is many people are going into the profession of principalship and some of the positions that were established in education are not there any more as much as they were in the past (M3).

The Contributions that the Mentors Made to their Mentees
The participants were asked about the contributions they made to their mentees. All of the principals indicated that they provided great support for new principals in solving school related problems, giving advice about specific issues and they all declared that they had been support partners with whom their mentees could share everything in their mind. M2 also emphasized the socio-emotional support that she provided her mentees and expressed her experiences as follows: There is a social-emotional support piece. I think that is a really key point because the principalship is a very lonely job in some school systems. The work is just over the top and the work load is enormous. We should be able to support that person (M2).
As a second point, M2, M4, M5 and M6 also underlined their contributions to their mentees' professional development and relationship with school staff. They indicated that the experiences that a mentor had were important catalysts of mentees' development. They detailed their experiences as follows: I provide practical knowledge about leadership and how to lead their staff and schools, focus on skills about team creating. I immediately respond to my mentees' questions. I ask critical questions to promote thinking and improve them in a way that they know more than they think they know. I always make them feel that they are totally who they are. I make them aware of themselves, their skills, and strenghts. I belive them and make them discover themselves (M5).

The Benefits that the Mentors had from Mentoring New Principals
The mentors who participated in this study were asked about the benefits that they had from mentoring new principals. All of the principals indicated that they learned so many things from that process and emphasized that mentorship is really helful for both mentors and mentees. Some participants expressed their benefits as follows:  Consistent with these opinions, M4 and M5 mentioned their benefits by emphasizing the eniquenees of each mentee and school as following: The biggest thing for me in being a mentor is that I am not trying to train my mentee to be a principal like me, but I am trying to allow my mentee to find their own style and way, offering suggestions about how to approach things. I think that the benefit for me is to get a different perspective. I believe that different people have different ideas, sometimes I get ideas of my mentees (M4).
I learn a lot from their stories in their schools. I learn a lot from their skills and individual strenghts. I am sometimes a good listener; just watch them how thet act with someone else. What I learn from them is about how they make decisions in their school. I learned from them to be flexible and understandable. I learn that each principal is unique, each school is unique, and each situation is unique (M5).

The Difficulties that the Mentors Encountered in Mentorship Process
When the mentors were asked about the difficulties or challenges they encountered in mentoring principals, all of the principals stated that they had hard times in finding time to share their experiences and talk about school related issues with their mentees since they had time limited contracts or the new principals and sometimes themselves were really busy with administrative works at their school. According to M1 and M4: The biggest challenge for me is the time. The mentorship contracts depend on time. Some of them last 6 months, some of them 1, some 2 years. I sometimes can not do everything I want with my mentees because of the limited time (M1).
The amount of time that you commit to mentor your mentee. You have your duties also, spending that time throughout the day may be challenging for you. Sometimes when you get very busy and your mentee needs to speak with you (M4).

Mentorship process from the views of mentees
The new school principals who have been mentored by experienced mentors were also asked similar questions asked to mentors. Their responses were categorized into four different themes.

The Criteria to be selected as a Mentor
The mentees who participated in this research were asked about the criteria to be selected as a mentor in their district. Consistent with the responses of the mentor principals, all of the mentees stated that they were not aware of any specific criterion to be selected as a mentor and they all defined the basic requirement as experience in principalship position. ME1, ME3 and ME6 shared their opinions regarding this question as the following:

The Characteristics of the Mentorship Process or Programs
The mentees participated in this study were asked to describe the characteristics of their mentorship process or program, all of the new principals provided information about the programs or process. According to ME1 and ME2: The mentee whose mentor was the former head principal of the same school indicated that his mentor made the road easier for him and informed him about what was going on at the school. ME4 detailed his opinions as follows: My mentor was the retired head principal of my school. As soon as it was needed, we were meeting by monthly. The district had a contract with him for 10 months. We were following an agenda. It was topic specific. According to this agenda, we were sharing information regarding master schedules; he was sharing documents with me… I had a chance to call or text him whenever I had problems in my school. There was a trust between us, I felt comfortable while I was asking questions to him (ME4).

How Mentorship Supports the Development of New Principals
The mentees who participated in this study were asked to explain their thoughts about how mentorship supports the development of new principals. Some of the opinions were given as the following:

The Difficulties that the Mentees Encountered in Mentorship Process
When the mentees were asked about the difficulties or challenges they encountered in being mentored by mentor principals, consistent with mentors' statements, all of the principals stated that they had some issues about allocating time to mentorship activities. The mentees specifically complained about not having enough time to share with their mentors. Some of the mentees expressed their thoughts as follows:

Discussion
In this study, both the mentor and mentee principals were first asked about the criteria to be selected as mentors. Most of the mentors and mentees stated that they were not aware of any specific criterion to be selected as mentors. However, they emphasized that experienced and good example principals were preferred most of the times. Also, the retired principals were chosen in some situaitons, since they had much more and flexible time to share with their mentees. It was also emphasized that the former principals of the schools in which the new principals started their profession were preferred as mentors since they had more information about school, teachers, personel, the students, etc. According to these findings, it could be stated that there is not any defined criterion to be selected as mentors for new school principals, however; experience is taken into acccount in this process. The participants were also asked to identify the characteristics of the mentorship process or programs that they were a part of. From the views of the mentor principals, the mentorship process was described as following: The mentorship contracts generally last one year based on building trust between mentors and mentees. During this year, school visits of mentors are planned throughout the year. On these school visits, the mentors observe the mentees, their management styles, focus on their strengths and weaknesses and develop required professional development activities for them. Also, the mentors and mentees meet at least once a month to discuss what is going on in their schools, what the challenges and problems they experience, what solutions they can find to solve these problems, etc. In addition to these meetings, formal phone calls are arranged along with informal calls or texts. This process provides job-embedded professional development opportunities. Moreover, the mentees emphasized the action plans that were designed for themselves by mentors depending on the strenghts and weaknesses of the mentess at the beginning of the year. They stated that these plans specifically focused on, for example, how to work on evaluation, school achievement, look at the data, time management, instructional leadership. Similar to findings of this study, intensive mentoring with on-going job-embedded coaching is defined as important practices for school leaders who might make difference at their schools (Stewart, 2013).
In terms of the question about how mentorship supports professional development of new school principals, both mentors and mentees indicated that mentorhip was really important for improvement and professional development of new school principals. The results show that mentors are thought as crucial support partners for new principals who help them accustom to their jobs and provide them with valuable guidance about school related issues. The mentees emphasized that just knowing that there was someone with whom they could share their problems, concerns, talk about whatever comes to their mind, and get their perspectives about specific issues made them feel confident in their profession. This result is consistent with the findings of Jones & Larwin (2015) when they concluded that having actively involved mentors was really important and helpful for novice principals.
According to their study, a majority of the mentee participants stated that mentoring provided them with great support especially during their first year.
The mentors and mentees both stated that mentorship process helped them to self discover and be aware of their own strenghts and weaknesses. Meeting regularly with a mentor, sharing experiences and ideas about educational settings, having advices about specific problems at schools, talking about special topics that were planned for professional development of mentees were found beneficial by mentees. The mentors and mentees also underlined the importance of the agendas that focus on the topics determined according to the strengths and weaknesses of the mentees. The mentees believed that when they followed these agendas, they had a chance to be aware of the educational settings and find out what areas they are struggling and what areas they need some work on. The mentees also stated that the mentorship process helped them focus on the particular needs in their early career.
In regards to the contributions provided for the development of mentees, the mentors indicated that they helped the mentees in building positive relationships with their staff, team creating, and provided them with a trustworthy support person with whom they could share their concerns and problems about school settings. The mentors also talked about their support on helping their mentees to discover their own strengths and weaknesses, providing practical knowledge about leadership and leading staff.
This study also revealed that most of the mentor principals thought that mentorship was beneficial for both mentors and mentees. In terms of the benefits of this process for mentors, the principals stated that mentorship made them develop themselves continuously and provided them with the opportunities to be flexible and understandable. The mentors told that they utilized a lot from different perspectives and ideas of fresh minds as mentees, learned a lot from stories of mentees in their schools and used them in other situations with other mentees. Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennet (2004) also emphasize that mentorship offers many benefits for both mentors and mentees. According to them, the mentorship provides mentors with opportunities of personal growth, gaining new perspectives and ideas about 32 school settings. In this study, one of the most important benefits of mentoring new principals was declared as having the chance to self-reflect. Consistent with this finding, Dukess (2001) states that mentor principals become more reflective and criticize themselves about leadership styles, time management, team working, communication skills, etc.
The majority of the mentors and mentees participated in this study stated that the biggest difficulty that they encountered in mentoring or being mentored was the time. They both emphasized that the school principals had so many things to do in their buildings and had problems in allocating time to mentorship activities. Similar to this finding, Ehrich, Hansford, & Tennet (2004)'s study also reveals that lack of time is described as one of the problems that are associated with mentoring process and is identified as one of the great impediment of effective mentorship.
In conclusion, the new principals face many challenges in the beginning years of their career. They need support from experienced principals in especially developing required skills, such as effective communication with staff, time management, and instructional supervision to become high performing school leaders. Therefore, preparing new school principals becomes an important component of effective school systems. Effective and well-organized mentoring programs, which provide appropriate match between mentors and mentees, are key to prepare and assist new principals. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that effective mentoring programs should be widespread on a larger scale across the countries.
Based on the findings of this study, several suggestions for future research can also be made. First of all, this study only includes the mentor and mentee principals' own experiences. Future studies migh also take into account the views of teachers or other stakeholders in evaluating the mentorhip proceess. The impacts of mentorship programs on principal leadership, teacher development, student outcomes, etc. might also be investigated by using quantitative research method. A long term study (case study) of effective mentoring programs could also be conducted in order to observe the developmental growth of both the mentors and mentees. As another point, in the existing study, all of the participants (seven mentors and seven mentees) were from the State of Georgia. For further research, a larger sample of participants from other states could be included in order to draw a better picture of mentorhip programs in the U.S.A. Similar studies can also be conducted in other countries where mentorship programs for school principals exist.