Supporting new teachers: are induction programs worth the cost?

Supporting new teachers: are induction programs worth the cost? ALTHOUGH MANY FIRST- AND second-year teachers will put on a braveface for their colleagues and administrators, a glimpse of professionalwoes can be found by browsing beginning teachers' online messageboards. "I had so little support," says one first-year teacher onteachers.net's Beginning Teachers chat board. Despite repeatedrequests for a lesson demonstration to help her understand thedistrict's complex reading program, the professional developmentreading coach did not come into her classroom until nearly a month aftershe failed her first formal reading evaluation. "By January, I wasburnt out and stopped handing back homework, stopped asking for any helpand stopped caring." "This was my first job, and I was not receiving any support atall," echoes another first-year teacher, whose contract has notbeen renewed for the 2007-2008 school year, on the Beginning Teacherschat board. "I struggled with the curriculum. Now that it'sstarting to make sense, I'm not getting the chance to prove that Ican do the job." Chances are, your district has heard similar complaints during exitinterviews for years. The Need for Induction Programs When faced with the traditional sink-or-swim induction program,nearly 30 percent of new teachers will sink, leaving the professionwithin the first three years, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the National Center forEducation Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States; conducts studies . Those who swim often follow a similar pattern ofdevelopment: "Your first year will be rough," asserts onethird-year teacher on the Beginning Teachers chat board. "Thesecond year will be better. By your third year, you should begin to feellike you can make it. My school has no 'new teacher' program.... I would like to see more support for new teachers. I think it wouldmake a huge difference." Education experts agree. Nationwide, teacher induction Induction (educator)Induction is the support and guidance provided to novice teachers and school administrators in the early stages of their careers. Induction encompasses orientation to the workplace, socialization, mentoring, and guidance through beginning teacher programs,for the most part, remain "underconceptualized, underfunded un��der��fund?tr.v. un��der��fund��ed, un��der��fund��ing, un��der��fundsTo provide insufficient funding for.underfundedadj → infradotado (econ��micamente)andunderresourced activities," says Barnett Berry, founder and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. ofthe Center for Teaching Quality, a research-based advocacy organization.Less than half of the states fund any new teacher induction program, andthose that do rarely have all the components necessary for ensuring highquality. "If there's anything that we probably could do andshould do to improve the quality of teaching and ensure the stability ofthe workforce, it is to provide better, more substantive support for ournewest teachers," Berry says. Studies demonstrate the positive effects that strong new teacherinduction programs have on attrition rates Noun 1. attrition rate - the rate of shrinkage in size or numberrate of attritionrate - a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit; "they traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour"; "the rate of change was faster than expected" and student performance. Forinstance, in Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians, is a school district that controls over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois. , novice elementary school elementary school:see school. teacherswho received strong mentoring were 25 percent more likely to plan toremain in the same school, according to a 2007 report by the Consortiumof Chicago School Chicago SchoolGroup of architects and engineers who in the 1890s exploited the twin developments of structural steel framing and the electrified elevator, paving the way for the ubiquitous modern-day skyscraper. Research at the University of Chicago. Likewise,beginning high school teachers who received other supports, such asregularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers, observation oftheir teaching with feedback, and the principal's support andencouragement, were 50 percent more likely to remain in their schoolsthan their colleagues who received little or no support. Superintendent Maria Ann De La Vega de la Vega is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning "of the plain" and may refer to: People(arranged by date of birth) Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536), Spanish poet and soldier Inca Garcilaso de la Vega notes that Ravenswood CitySchool District The Ravenswood City School District is a public school district in the San Francisco Bay Area serving the communities of East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park. Students from this school district who continue on with public schooling matriculate to the Sequoia Union High School in Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, CaliforniaPalo Alto(păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif., went from a 75 percent teacherturnover rate to an 87 percent teacher retention rate within three yearsof beginning its partnership with the New Teacher Center at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university, one of the ten campuses of the University of California. , a national nonprofit organization Nonprofit OrganizationAn association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well.Notes:Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. that works with districts to create new teacher and new principalinduction programs. In addition, the district is seeing significantgains in student achievement since the program started: The number ofstudents scoring as "proficient pro��fi��cient?adj.Having or marked by an advanced degree of competence, as in an art, vocation, profession, or branch of learning.n.An expert; an adept. " in algebra algebra,branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as has doubled, andthe schools have seen 100-point gains on state achievement tests. Fred Williams Frederick Ronald (Fred) Williams is an is an Australian painter and printmaker.He was born in 1927 in Melbourne, Australia.He was one of Australia’s most important artists, and one the twentieth century’s major painters of the landscape. , executive director of recruitment and retention atDurham Public Schools in North Carolina North Carolina,state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N).Facts and FiguresArea, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , has seen similar results usingthe New Teacher Center model. After the program's first year ofimplementation, there was a 38 percent decrease in beginning teacherturnover. Also, when the district compared the performance of studentstaught by veteran teachers with beginning teachers in the program, theresults revealed some new teachers demonstrating greater studentachievement gains than their more experienced colleagues. Likewise, after Oakland Unified School District Oakland Unified School District is a public education school district which operates elementary schools (K-5), middle schools (6-8), and high schools (9-12) in Oakland, California. in Californiaintroduced its state-funded Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment(BTSA BTSA Beginning Teacher Support and AssessmentBTSA Bonus to Selling AgentBTSA Benziger Thinking Styles AssessmentBTSA Seaman Apprentice, Boiler Technician Striker (USN Rating)) induction program in 2004, its retention rate rose from 50 to 75percent. But Lisa Spielman, BTSA induction coordinator, cautions thatinduction programs are only part of the equation. If there's a lackof student discipline resources available at the school level, then bothbeginning and experienced teachers alike will feel stressed and burnedout. Analyzing the Costs For a new teacher induction program to be effective, Ellen Moir Ellen Moir is the founder and executive director of The New Teacher Center, based at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). Established in 1998, the Center is devoted to the development, induction, and mentoring of beginning teachers. ,executive director of the New Teacher Center, believes it needs severalkey components: extensive mentor training and support; contextualized,classroom-based mentoring, including using a formative assessment Formative assessment is a self-reflective process that intends to promote student attainment [1]. Cowie and Bell [2] define it as the bidirectional process between teacher and student to enhance, recognise and respond to the learning. systemto monitor the beginning teacher's growth and development withoutthreatening his or her job security; opportunities for beginningteachers to observe experienced teachers teaching; a chance forbeginning teachers to network with each other, share their experiencesand develop problem-solving strategies; and professional development fornew teachers that includes having a mentor available who can translatethe theory into classroom practice. Although funding an effective program is not cheap, Moir believesthat such programs virtually pay for themselves in the first five years.Using actual data for a medium-sized California school district, the NewTeacher Center conducted a five-year cost-benefit analysis cost-benefit analysisIn governmental planning and budgeting, the attempt to measure the social benefits of a proposed project in monetary terms and compare them with its costs. of theinduction program. As expected, the district faced significant upfrontcosts to support its 119 new teachers over the first year. The projectcost $6,606 per teacher: the district paid $2,300, the state supplied$3,665 as part of the BTSA program, and the beginning and mentorteachers and principals contributed the equivalent of $640 in total inpersonal time to participate in after-school meetings. But the investment has paid off. After five years, data from thecenter shows that the $13,000 price tag of a two-year program yieldsabout $21,500 in benefits to the student, state, district and society,from the district's recruitment and orientation savings tostudents' achievement gains, generating an $8,500 return oninvestment per new teacher. On average, teachers in an induction program have a 2 percentattrition rate, compared to the state average of 4 percent, and only 17percent of the benefits carne from reducing teacher attrition AttritionThe reduction in staff and employees in a company through normal means, such as retirement and resignation. This is natural in any business and industry.Notes: . However, nearly half of the benefits came from increasing teachereffectiveness. Further analysis of the students' test scores showedthat first- and second-year teachers in the induction program were aseffective as fourth-year teachers who had not previously been in theprogram. Not only do students benefit by having a more effectiveteacher, but the district receives the equivalent of a fourth-yearteacher while paying a beginning teacher's salary. New teacher induction programs benefit experienced teachers aswell, since mentors must participate in extensive training to learn howto meet the needs of adult learners Adult learner is a term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning. , that is, the new teachers.Instructing and assessing new teachers is very different from teaching20 first-graders, and teachers with 25 years of classroom experiencedon't intuitively know how to do it. If the mentors aren'ttrained, the programs will be far less effective, with the mentorstrying to be buddies or simply leaving the new teachers flounderingbecause they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how to explain the components of effectiveteaching. "They love and are passionate about the position,"Williams says. "It has given remarkable teachers the opportunity todo something else--to share some of the insights that they have gainedover time, to really engage in very serious and thoughtful professionaldevelopment, to nurture their own abilities." Building District Programs Despite their demonstrated benefits, many districts resistimplementing comprehensive new teacher induction programs because itcosts too much to fund all of the requisite components. After all, if adistrict is struggling to pay for enough teachers for every classroom,it will be tough to find an additional $13,000 for a two-year inductionprogram for each new teacher. When it adds the cost of extending theprogram to the recommended three years and including a modified versionfor experienced, but new to the district, teachers, the price tag goesfrom expensive to cost-prohibitive. To cut costs, some districts build their own teacher inductionprograms in-house. Columbus Municipal School District The Columbus Municipal School District is a public school district based in Columbus, Mississippi (USA).In addition to Columbus, the district also serves the children of Columbus Air Force Base military personnel. , a 4,000-studentdistrict in Columbus, Miss., developed two years ago its new teacherinduction program, Strategic Training for Academic Results (STAR), basedon a similar program in Flowing Wells, Ariz. In the program, which isfunded with federal and local monies, novice and experienced teachersattend summer and monthly professional development workshops and workwith a trained instructional coach who observes their teaching andoffers feedback. Although the district is seeing impressive results, says MelindaLowe, professional development coordinator, it still shows a highteacher turnover rate due to military-related transfers at the nearbyAir Force base. Out of the 62 first- and second-year teachers whoparticipated in the program, six will be leaving. Instead of military transfers, it's the high cost of livingthat contributes to teacher turnover in Fairfax County, Va., where manynew teachers must work a second job to afford living there. Thoughreducing attrition remains a core goal of the district's newteacher induction program, Sharon Mullen, director of professionalpractice and training for Fairfax County Public Schools The Fairfax County Public Schools system (abbreviated FCPS) is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. , acknowledgesthat improving the effectiveness of new teachers has assumed a largerrole over the last five years: "Our job now is to make teachersbetter faster because they may not be staying for a long time, but theydo have those kids in front of them." The district's homegrown home��grown?adj.1. Raised or grown at home.2. Originating in or characteristic of a locality: "Rock is homegrown music in the United States, evolved from blues and country and Tin Pan Alley"teacher induction program, GreatBeginnings, now serves as a model program for other Virginia districts.All teachers new to the 165,000-student district participate in theprogram, with novice elementary teachers staying in the program forthree years, beginning high school teachers following a two-year path,and experienced teachers who are new to the district undergoing ayear-long induction. To further cut costs, the district uses a renewablefederal Title II grant for the mentor resource teacher component ofGreat Beginnings. After undergoing training to become a mentor, recentlyretired teachers and those on childcare leave visit the schools weeklyto work with novice teachers by observing their teaching or modelinglessons. Funding Struggles While Columbus and Fairfax developed and implemented a program,other districts still struggle with new teacher induction and limitedresources. Budget cuts have led to fewer new teacher coaches in theSchool District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia is a school district based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that includes all public schools in the city of Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the eighth largest school district in the nation. . A former new teacher coach, Suzanne Newman, is known as a"school growth teacher" at the district, working withexperienced and beginning teachers, leading professional developmentcourses, analyzing student assessment scores to help teachers drivetheir instruction and observing classroom teachers. "When funds need to be cut because administrators or the boardthink there's too much 'fluff,' it's the peoplewhose job descriptions are not immediately touching the students thatget the boot because we look like we're disposable," she says."It's such a shame, but sometimes it takes too long to see theimpact." Some districts, like Durham, use grants to pay for an established,research-based program, creating self-sustainability. At Durham, whosethree-year grant from Duke University and the Duke Endowment ends nextyear, six staff members are being trained to serve as mentor trainersendorsed in the New Teacher Center model, which allows the district touse in-house staff and the center's materials to createprofessional development courses. "The human cost is still there," Williams says. "Butwe anticipate that there will be fewer and fewer beginning teachersbecause they will be staying in the profession longer, and thus the needto hire more begins to reduce, and the number of mentors ultimately willbe reduced. The ultimate signal of success is that you make yourselfobsolete." Tools for New Teachers, Mentors and Administrators Are you looking for Looking forIn the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a professional development program for mentortraining? Do you want to point new teachers to an online supportcommunity? Do you have a new teacher induction program in place but needadditional materials? If so, check out these Web-based resources. BEST Program www.sde.ct.gov/sde/taxonomy/ct_taxonomy taxonomy:see classification. taxonomyIn biology, the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of groupings, from the general to the particular, that reflect evolutionary and usually morphological relationships: kingdom, phylum, class, order, .asp Resources for beginning teachers, mentors and other school districtpersonnel related to Connecticut's comprehensive induction programfor new teachers. CaseNEX www.caseflex.com Using a case-based, slice-of-life approach to instruction,districts hire CaseNEX to provide online professional developmentcourses that allow new teachers to work with each other and a trainedfacilitator to find solutions for realistic problems dealing withassessment strategies, classroom management and curriculum design. Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement(CERRA CERRA Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (South Carolina, USA)) www.cerra.org A national model for teacher recruitment, CERRA's programs,which are free for South Carolina South Carolina,state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW).Facts and FiguresArea, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. districts, support new and mentorteachers. A CERRA Web portal See portal. is in the works to facilitate communicationbetween the participants and CERRA's staff. ED Pubs www.edpubs.org Part of the U.S. Department of Education, this Web site providesteachers and administrators with free education publications and issuebriefs. Ideas for New Teachers and Education Students www.adprima.com/ideamenu.htm The site offers "how-to" information on lesson planningand writing objectives as well as ideas about management and differentinstructional methods. Inspiring Teachers www.inspiringteachers.com Supporting student, substitute and new teachers, as well asadministrators and mentors, this resource links to a plethora plethora/pleth��o��ra/ (pleth��ah-rah)1. an excess of blood.2. by extension, a red florid complexion.pletho��ricpleth��o��ran.1. of relatedWeb sites and features books, Web seminars, staff developmentin-services, online mentoring and networking message boards. LEARN North Carolina www.learnnc.org A program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Also known as The University of North Carolina, Carolina, North Carolina, or simply UNC Schoolof Education, this K12 resource includes online professional developmentcourses and ideas, classroom materials and advice for new teachers. Mentoring in the 21st Century[TM] Resource Kit askeducation.com/Mentoring_Resource_Kit.htm This kit provides the tools schools and districts need to designand implement a comprehensive mentoring program. The New Teacher Center www.newteachercenter.org Home of the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project, the NewTeacher Center works with districts across the country to establisheffective induction programs for the first two years in practice, usinga formative assessment model and providing professional development andsupport for new and mentor teachers. A New Teacher Guidebook hannahmeans.bizland.com This new teacher survival guide offers management and disciplinetools, sites to visit and advice on how to organize. PBS PBSin full Public Broadcasting ServicePrivate, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, TeacherLine Peer Connection www.pbs.org/teacherline Set to launch this month [September], this fee-based serviceprovides instructional coaches with a searchable database Refers to databases on the Web that are searchable by typing in a query. The term is quite redundant because all databases are searchable. In fact, that is one of their major features. of resources,such as videos, articles and online interactives from PBS TeacherLineresources; embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. tutorials designed to help teachers shift fromchild-centered to adult-focused instruction; and an online discussionboard. Although the pilot program set to launch this fall is customizedfor middle school math teachers and coaches, it will be expanded toinclude other content areas and grade levels, and it will eventuallyaccess the entire library of PBS online resources. TeachersFirst www.teachersfirst.tcom Providing support to teachers of all experience levels, this Website features podcasts of best practices, K12 lesson and unit plans,ideas for incorporating the latest technologies into the classroom, andlinks to other online resources. Teachers.Net www.teachers.net Using a peer-support model, this site features an extensive libraryof lesson plans and classroom projects, grade- and subject-specificlistservs, and chat rooms for teachers and administrators alike. Teachers Network www.teachnet.org With everything from Web-based mentors and professional developmentcourses to streaming videos A one-way video transmission over a data network. It is widely used on the Web as well as company networks to play video clips and video broadcasts. Computers in home networks stream video to digital media hubs connected to a home theater. and podcasts demonstrating best practices,this site is a one-stop shop One-Stop ShopA company or a location that offers a multitude of services to a client or a customer. The idea is to provide convenient and efficient service and also to create the opportunity for the company to sell more products to clients and customers. for new and experienced teachers alike. TeacherVision www.teachervision.com This K12 Web site includes over 12,000 pages of classroom-readylessen plans and printable print��a��ble?adj.1. Capable of being printed or of producing a print: printable negatives.2. Fit for publication: printable language. quizzes and worksheets as well as a widevariety of professional development resources that cover topics fromsurvival tips for elementary school teachers to assessment strategies. Steps for a Successful Teacher Induction Program * Secure funding by winning grants, creating local bonds or salestaxes sales tax,levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. , matching government funds or reallocating district resources.Build in release time for mentors to observe new teachers as well as fornew teachers to observe other teachers in their content areas. * Use formative assessment to monitor the new teachers' growthand development over the course of the school year in addition to formalevaluations. * Offer targeted professional development sessions for new teachersthat cover everything from classroom management to assessment, and makea mentor available to help translate theory into actual classroompractice. * Differentiate instruction for beginning teachers who are new tothe profession and experienced teachers who are new to the district. * Set regular meetings throughout the year for new teachers tonetwork with each other, share instructional strategies and findsolutions to their specific problems. * Teach the mentors what they need to know to be effective in theirnew role, from assessing the new teacher's development to servingas ah instructional coach. RESOURCES Center for Teacher Quality www.teachingquality.org Columbus Municipal School District www.columbuscityschools.org Durham Public Schools www.dpsnc.net Fairfax County Public Schools www.fcps.edu Oakland Unified School District ntsd.ousd.k12.ca.us Ravenswood City School District www.ravenswood.k12.ca.us School District of Philadelphia www.ssbs.phila.k12.pa.us Jennifer Maciejewski is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.