Teacher Induction Programs

What's the Policy?

Recently the issue of special help for new teachers is becoming an important question for many local school districts and state legislatures. Every job has a break-in period, a time when the beginner learns the ropes and makes the connections between theory and practice. Adjustment and adaptation are the watchwords of life in the new workplace. Teaching is no exception. School districts and state legislatures are looking for ways to provide help for new teachers in a programmatic way, rather than individual experienced teachers lending a hand to newcomers.

How Does It Affect Teachers?

Most of the new programs and those on the legislative drawing board include mentoring assistance and targeted in-service help designed to augment formal teacher preparation, helping beginners to make the link between what they learned on the campus and the very concrete world of their new classrooms. Experienced teachers are affected as well, because they are often cast in the role of mentor.

What Are the Pros?

Programs that offer special help for new teachers represent a major opportunity for the teaching profession to ensure that beginners are not swamped and discouraged, but rather are given the opportunity to make a smooth transition into their chosen occupation. For years the plight of the new teacher has commanded attention in the educational press and journals. Experts estimate that 30 percent of all new teachers leave the field within their first five years, and that many of these are one- or two-year teachers. Systematic help for new teachers could help reduce the loss of early-career teachers. In addition, students will benefit if their teachers get the help they need to do an effective job on their first assignments.

What Are the Cons?

Among the issues surrounding special help for new teachers are three, in particular: first and foremost, that old favorite, money; second, who gets the special help; and third, who gives the special help.

1. Money. The costs of new teacher assistance programs are typically between two to five thousand dollars a year per teacher. And, while that may seem like a fine investment, there are arguments on the other side. First is the competing-options argument. A district that adopts a new teacher training program may be choosing to forgo a new swimming pool or banks of computers in every classroom. Or, the state legislators may want to use those same funds for special education or a new statewide testing initiative. Second, there are those who worry about "wasting funds" on people who are "just passing through." They cite the 30 percent new teacher turnover statistics, arguing that it is more prudent to spend precious staff development monies on those who represent a long-term investment.
   
   
2. Who gets the help? Most of the teacher assistance programs now being considered were conceived when teaching positions were scarce. They were designed to help graduates from teacher-preparation programs make the transition from the college classroom to leading their own classrooms. Now new teachers are a scarce commodity and school districts are forced to hire people with little or no teacher preparation. The in-service programs are becoming "on-site and in-flight" substitutes for unprepared teachers. For example, a Greater Los Angeles school district, Montebello Unified schools, recently came to the realization that of the 160 new teachers in its new professionals support program, only 19 had regular state credentials.
   
   
3. Who does the helping? This issue can become a political football. Ideally, the best person to help a new teacher is a master teacher, experienced at the same grade level or in the same subject area, and who has talent as a teacher of teachers. In the actual world of schools, however, it does not always work out that way. Being designated a mentor teacher or having special responsibilities to help neophytes is both a professional honor and a professional plum. And plums are not always distributed on merit or worth. Among the alternative fruit distribution methods are:
   • having those in power (superintendents, principals, supervisors, or school board members) decide;
   • having the local teachers union decide and thus be tempted to hand out assignments to the most loyal members or those with the most seniority;
   • having a faculty member in a particular school building decide, which runs the possibility of turning it into a popularity contest; and, finally,
   • having the new teachers themselves select, which, among other problems, could again fall into the popularity trap.

While everyone seemingly wants to see new teachers succeed, the issue is hardly an educational policy slam-dunk.

What Do You Think?

1. In the arena of competing educational dollars, how high a priority would you put on support for new teachers?
2. Do you believe that these new teacher support programs should focus on the most needy, even if they become end-runs around regular teacher education programs?
3. Specifically, where do you believe that you, as a beginning teacher, will need the most help?

Source: Jeff Archer, Education Week, March 17, 1999, pp. 1, 221-222.

For more information on teacher induction programs, visit these web sites, then reflect on the questions that follow.

Web Links

Smart Induction Programs Become Lifelines for the Beginning Teacher
http://www.nsdc.org/educatorindex.htm
This article describes different ways schools can implement programs to help new teachers.

Induction Program for Beginners Benefits Veteran Teachers, Too
http://www.nsdc.org/educatorindex.htm
This article describes the unexpected benefits one district's realized from its program to help new teachers.

New Teacher Academy
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev013.shtml
This article at the Education World web site describes a learning program designed to support first-year teachers.

Guidance from the Get-Go: Mentoring New Teachers
http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin260.shtml
This article from the Educational World archives describes mentoring programs for first-year teachers, lists the qualities of a successful mentoring program, and offers links to several sources of more information.

For Further Reflection

1. What are some reasons that being a mentor teacher would be helpful to an experienced teacher, besides being a "professional honor and a professional plum"?
2. What are some cost-effective ways to support new teachers?
3. How will you, as a new teacher, find support if there is no formal induction program in place in the district where you are hired?