New Horizons for Learning: Special Needs/Gifted

Helping New Teachers Thrive

Jeanne Harmon
Center for Strengthening
the Teaching Profession
Washington State

New teachers need specific supports if they are to remain invested in the profession and improve their practice in ways that boost student achievement. They need a robust, comprehensive, and sustained induction that includes skilled mentoring.

Around our state and across the nation, educators define "teacher induction" in a myriad of ways-- from a one-day new teacher orientation to an integrated professional development program that spans the first few years of a teacher's career. Some educators use the words "mentoring" and "coaching" interchangeably; others believe mentoring and induction are synonymous. The existence of such wide variation in educators' understanding of these terms is important. In order to succeed, we must have clarity. In 2005, two dozen educators from around Washington worked to identify the key components of a high-quality induction program and outline the key skills and knowledge required of those who mentor new teachers. This project was a cooperative effort between The Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and The Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) and resulted in publication of "Effective Support for New Teachers in Washington State Standards for Beginning Teacher Induction." The complete standards document is available at http://www.cstp-wa.org.

This set of rigorous, research-based standards and mentor proficiencies lays the foundation for a strong induction program. This approach does not prescribe program details; districts and schools are encouraged to use the standards as a framework to address their diverse needs and capacity.

Currently, with funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, CSTP is working with nine districts and two Educational Service Districts (ESDs) to:

build or enhance induction programs based on the standards

use these implementation models to refine the tools,

support exemplars to serve as models, and

demonstrate for a wider audience of stakeholders the vital role of teacher induction in school and district improvement.

This effort comes at a pivotal moment in our state's education reform efforts. There is real opportunity to effect broad and lasting change for our teachers and our students by building capacity in our teaching corps.

Why Induction Matters
Quality teaching is essential for all students to reach rigorous standards. Research [1] has found that differences in teacher capability can account for as much as 90% of the variation in student learning in schools with similar student characteristics. Students who have the benefit of high quality teaching for at least three consecutive years are very likely to succeed while students who have low quality teaching for two or more consecutive years may never recover. [2]

A highly qualified teaching workforce, both novice and veteran, is the single greatest leverage point for assuring that all students achieve at their highest potential. Increasing the stability of the teaching corps, especially in schools with challenging student populations, can help to assure all children experience the quality teaching they deserve.

Because new teachers tend to change schools or be involuntarily transferred more frequently than their experienced colleagues, and because they leave teaching in greater numbers than veterans, a focus on the retention of new teachers can help provide a stable teaching staff. Retention of new teachers can be increased via mentoring from qualified colleagues, time to work together to analyze and interpret evidence of student progress, and other opportunities for collaborative professional learning.

Across Washington state's 296 school districts, mentoring for new teachers varies widely. Some districts allocate local dollars to build a robust, successful program for employees in their first five years of teaching. Others create a reasonable program for first-year teachers using only the state's funding. Still others meet the state's basic requirements, but in a nominal way that new teachers find less than helpful. While there is widespread agreement that mentoring is an important component of induction, the state has no common standards to define the proficiencies of effective mentors. Since district participation in the state's Teacher Assistance Program (TAP) is optional, some new teachers unfortunately work their first year without support of any kind. Few districts provide support beyond the first year, though research shows longer-term support helps increase retention. [3]

Washington's current policies regarding induction recognize the state's basic responsibility to support new teachers, but are inadequate to provide the comprehensive, long-term program of support needed to attract and retain new teachers in Washington's public schools. While there are varying estimates of the teacher turnover rate in Washington, recent analysis by the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) shows that 33% of Washington's new teachers depart the profession during their first five years of teaching–-better than the 50% figure frequently cited as the national average-- but still problematic.

Washington State contributes to the professional training of most of these new teachers; Washington school districts invest to recruit and employ these new teachers; veteran Washington teachers donate time to helping them get a good start; and Washington students benefit from their energy, enthusiasm, fresh eyes, and standards-based training. Yet if these investments are not part of a deliberate, ongoing induction strategy, they can be disruptive and wasteful. Research tells us new teachers need sustained, comprehensive supports to stay and to succeed in their chosen profession.

Crafting Standards of High-Quality Induction and Identifying Proficiencies of Effective Mentors

"Effective induction programs not only retain highly qualified new teachers, they also ensure that these teachers are teaching effectively from the very first day at school." -- Harry and Rosemary Wong, Effective Teaching

In early 2005, with funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Center for Strengthening the Teaching Professions (CSTP) took an important first step toward improving the stability and effectiveness of Washington's teacher corps.

Recognizing that induction is not just mentoring, but a range of supports for new teachers, CSTP set out to craft a set of standards to guide induction program development at the district level using the latest research; on-the-ground insight of local mentors, administrators and human resources directors; and feedback from national experts. The project also aimed to define the skills and characteristics of effective mentors of new teachers in an effort to assist districts in identifying and hiring the best candidates to mentor new teachers. The short-term goal of these efforts is to create an actionable tool for districts of varying size and capacity to support new teachers.

The first phase of the project included several distinct elements:

Literature review

Statewide survey

Drafting standards

Refining the work

Describing exemplars

Literature Review
A key component of the funded project was a review of the literature surrounding the practices and programs intentionally developed to support novice teachers. The complete review is available on our website.

"Research has confirmed, with increased methodical rigor, that teacher quality makes a difference in student learning. Researchers generally concur . . . that the teacher may be the most important factor in the academic growth of students." --Who Stays in Teaching and Why: A Review of the Literature on Teacher Retention, Harvard Graduate School of Education

The review was organized around four focus areas:

Section One highlighted the evidence of areas of impact of effective beginning teacher induction, including rates and costs of attrition, perceptions of teacher satisfaction, growth toward professional goals, and implications for student achievement. Education Week's annual "Quality Counts" report cited the following

23 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first three years of teaching

as measured by their college entrance exams, the brightest novice teachers are the most likely to leave

beginning teachers who did not participate in an induction program were twice as likely to leave teaching[4]

Section Two outlined the components most often included in effective programs:

orientation program

structured mentoring

common planning time

ongoing professional development

an external network for teachers

standards-based evaluations

Section Three identified the conditions that, when present, favorably impact the outcome of programs and practices of new teacher support:

multiyear view of induction

leadership that understands the needs of beginning teachers

quality providers of induction programs

incentives

additional support for new teachers with little preparation

coordination with associations or unions

alignment with classroom needs and professional standards

outcomes-rich evaluation model

Section Four identified three of the new considerations and challenges that schools, districts, and states encounter when addressing the needs of new teachers in the 21st century:

the advent of standards-based teaching and systems of accountability

the changing demographics and needs of the new generation of entrants into the teaching profession

the persistent "gap" in support services extended to teachers in low vs. high income school settings

"Mentoring and induction, when well-conceived, carefully implemented, and soundly supported by the schools in which new teachers work, have been shown to positively affect the retention of these teachers."(R. Ingersoll & Kralik, 2004) --Who Stays in Teaching and Why: A Review of the Literature on Teacher Retention, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Statewide Survey
To solicit information on existing induction programs in Washington and gauge district-level perceptions of them, CSTP sent an electronic survey to district representatives of the state's Teacher Assistance Program. Representatives from thirty-eight districts responded to the multiple choice and short answer questions; six urban, 16 suburban, and 16 rural districts. Even though induction programs vary widely from district to district in terms of scope, funding, and duration, there was general agreement among respondents around a need for more time and money to train their mentors and assist first-year teachers. (Some districts provide only a few days of induction while others have implemented fairly comprehensive programs.) Recurring themes included:

inadequate compensation for mentors

insufficiently trained mentors

inappropriate responsibilities/workload for new teachers

Drafting Standards
The CSTP Executive Director and the program coordinator for the Teacher Assistance Program in the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), collaborated to identify dedicated educators with a deep understanding of and passion for teacher induction and mentoring to participate in working groups that would craft standards and define mentor proficiencies. Invited participants represented the state's diverse geographical regions and brought a mix of small and large districts to the table.

The group of 20 included mentors, principals, professional development specialists, a human resource director, and a director of curriculum and instruction. One sub-group focused on creating program standards; another worked to identify the key proficiencies for mentors who work with new teachers. To inform their thinking, the groups shared documents and tools from their districts, used existing literature, and considered emerging data about new teachers.

New Program Standards
The programs group began its work with a question: "What do new teachers need?" Their list included:

a timely and informative hiring process

an appropriate assignment (load, location, collegial support)

a strong relationship to someone or several people in the building

adequate resources

an opportunity to belong and contribute; an understanding of their place on the larger stage

The group used its list to build a preliminary set of standards. Driven by the desire to create a useful, usable tool and ground it in current research, they also created the template for a "Resource Page" that would direct districts to exemplary programs and research to support their reform efforts.

New Mentor Proficiencies
The proficiencies group began with a narrower, but no less challenging task of identifying what effective mentors should know and be able to do. The tool would help districts identify and hire effective mentors, and also serve as an assessment tool for personal and system-level growth. In addition, the document would serve as a policy/advocacy tool to outline professional development areas for mentors.

Case Studies
CSTP also developed four cases, also available on the website, that illustrate a broad spectrum of induction efforts around the state. Each offers instructive elements of high-quality induction.

Omak is a small rural district that has made a major shift in thinking. As a result of major teacher turnover, the system now accepts for inducting new teachers.

Lake Washington is a large suburb with an active community organization that supports and guides teacher induction.

Vancouver has a comprehensive system that simultaneously supports and demands professional growth from every employee.

A struggling district that is taking advantage of state training for mentors.

Refining the Work
During the month of April, participants took the work back to their districts where they convened meetings with new teachers, administrators, mentors, and others to present the tools and gather feedback. In addition, more than a dozen education experts around the country were invited to react. Overall, feedback from districts and experts was affirming, detailed, and useful. CSTP also posted the documents on its Web site, inviting feedback. Participants used their final meeting in early May to share feedback and begin refinement of the tools they had created. The group carefully considered the feedback then discussed how to incorporate it into the work. Polishing continued through mid-May.

Throughout the process, CSTP has been careful to engage the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, aligning the work closely with agency efforts and keeping members of the Teaching and Learning Cabinet informed.

Dissemination
CSTP identified several qualified individuals from the working group to present the standards documents at various conferences over the summer. Teachers, principals and central office administrators heard about the new standards a four summer institutes CSTP plans to disseminate the standards widely to professional organizations such as the Washington Education Association (WEA), the Association of Washington State Principals (AWSP), and the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) through mailings, presentations and articles in their publications.

Lessons Learned
The work to date has proven challenging and exciting. While there is considerable consensus across the nation around the importance of teacher induction, little work has been done to establish standards that define a quality program. Participants in the project work group, many of whom work directly with new teachers, understood the fundamental importance of this effort and were enthusiastic to be a part of it. Many experts who have seen the work acknowledged the need for it and commented on its significant contribution.

The creation of state standards and highlighting exemplary program elements underscored the importance of defining "quality teacher induction" as a comprehensive, multifaceted program that goes beyond orientation and buddy-mentoring. The state must adopt strong policies that recognize the importance of a high-quality teacher induction program and see it as an integral part of improving schools. Washington has laid the groundwork for an effort that:

Uses strong data to illustrate the importance of high-quality teaching and demonstrate the impact of strong induction programs on teacher retention

Recognizes the size and capacity variation in the state's 296 school districts-- half have fewer than 1,000 students-- while advocating for clear and rigorous but flexible standards that allow districts to respond in different and creative ways according to their size, needs, and capacity

Aligns teacher induction efforts with the certification requirements of new teachers and supports them during the first several years of their care

Acknowledges that effective induction must be embedded in state-level policy and integrated into local professional development efforts

Conclusion
Investing in the development of new teachers represents a critical investment in the future stability of Washington's educational system. While CSTP's research shows that on the whole, teachers who stay in teaching choose to remain in Washington classrooms, there is a high price paid for every new teacher who chooses to leave the state or the profession. [5]This project will pay three dividends:

an effective induction system will reduce the number of teachers who choose to leave the profession;

when a teacher does change districts within Washington, the impact of an effective induction system will move with that teacher; and

the accumulated knowledge, evaluation tools, and models of effective practices developed by this project will become a resource for every district in the state.

The results of this work will enable districts to develop and retain a new generation of skilled, highly-qualified teachers, and ultimately, it is Washington's students who will benefit most.

Main Ideas
Standards for High-Quality Beginning Teacher Induction Programs in Washington State
(Go to http://www.cstp-wa.org for complete document)

HIRING Students, schools and districts are well served by hiring policies and practices that honor the unique needs and powerful potential of beginning teachers.

ORIENTATION New teachers benefit from participation in an orientation to school and district beliefs and practices that occurs before their teaching responsibilities begin.

MENTORING A strong relationship with a highly qualified mentor is essential to facilitating maximum growth in new teachers.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING New teachers benefit from engagement in purposeful, ongoing, formal and informal learning opportunities that promote reflection, collaboration and professional growth.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT New teachers benefit when districts have a carefully developed formative assessment system focused on improving teaching practice and enhancing student achievement.

Notes

1 Armour-Thomas, Clay, et al, 1989, as cited in What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, 1996, National Commission on Teaching & America's Future.

2 Kati Haycock, Education Trust. Presentation in Seattle, WA October 6, 2004.

3 Tapping the Potential: Retaining and Developing High Quality New Teachers. Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004.

4 Britton, Edward et al, More Swimming, Less Sinking: Perspectives on Teacher Induction in the U.S. and Abroad, 2005, Paper prepared for the March 6-7 meeting of the National Commission on Teaching Mathematics and Science in the 21st Century; Wong et al, What the World Can Teach Us about New Teacher Induction, Phi Delta Kappan, 2005 and Ingersoll and Kralik, 2004 Who Stays in Teaching and Why: A Review of the Literature on Teacher Retention, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

5 Teacher Retention and Mobility: A Look Inside and Across Districts and Schools in Washington State. CSTP, March 2005.

About the author

Jeanne Harmon is the Executive Director for the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession, an independent nonprofit organization focused on improving teaching quality in Washington State. Contact her at jeanne@cstp-wa.org.