Resources for New Teacher Induction Programs and Policies
(view resources for Mentoring and Supporting New Teachers)

  • Lifelines to the Classroom: Designing Support for Beginning Teachers
    WestEd Knowledge Brief (2000)

    A third of beginning teachers quit within their first three years on the job. We don't stand for this kind of dropout rate among students, and we can no longer afford it in our teaching ranks. But what does it take to adequately support novice teachers? What lifelines can we offer so they will remain in the profession and develop into highly effective classroom educators?

  • A Guide to Developing Teacher Induction Programs
    Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. (2001)

    Build an effective teacher support and assessment program that will help you keep teachers. Order for $24.95 or download this toolkit free at the RNT website.

  • A Different Approach to Solving the Teacher Shortage Problem
    CTP Teaching Quality Policy Brief (#3), Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington, January 2001.

    Richard Ingersoll, one of the nation's leading researchers on issues of teacher quality, supply and attrition, offers the modest proposal that the best way to solve the teacher shortage is to strengthen support for beginning teachers and reduce their dropout rate. His careful analysis points to key flaws in school district recruitment and induction programs that drive teachers from the profession.

  • District Policy and Beginning Teachers: Where the Twain Shall Meet
    Pam Grossman, Clarissa Thompson, and Sheila Valencia, Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington, 2001.

    What role do district policies play in the lives of beginning teachers? These researchers followed 10 teachers from their final year of teacher education into their first three years of teaching. In this paper, they examine the role of curriculum, professional development, and mentoring policies in shaping the experiences of three first-year language arts teachers.

  • Retaining the Next Generation of Teachers: The Importance of School-Based Support
    Harvard Education Letter (July/August 2001).

    Staff from Harvard's Project on the Next Generation of Teachers describe research suggesting that the key to addressing teacher shortages lies not in attractive recruitment policies but in support and training for new teachers at the school site. "For it is in schools and classrooms where teachers must find success and satisfaction. It is there they will decide whether or not to continue to teach."

  • Reduce Your Losses: Help New Teachers Become Veteran Teachers
    Report from the Southern Regional Education Board ( June 2001)

    School districts need to pay as much attention to teacher retention as they do to teacher recruitment, says SREB in this report on teacher induction in the Southeast. The report describes key reasons why new teachers abandon the profession in the first five years and describes steps districts and schools can take to make good on their teacher recruitment investments.

  • Supporting New Teachers: A Fundamental Responsibility
    The New Teacher Center. University of California at Santa Cruz.

    Written for California administrators, the central message of this article applies to school leaders across the USA: "We have an obligation to do all that is in our power to insure that new teachers are successful in meeting the needs of their students, and that those who are competent remain in the profession."

  • New Teacher Staffing and Comprehensive Middle School Reform: Philadelphia's Experience
    Philadelphia Education Fund (2000).

    This study examines the problem of teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention in the context of schoolwide reform in seven of Philadelphia's 42 middle schools.

  • Baltimore Program Helps New Teachers Get Off to a Good Start
    Education World (2000)

    The New Teacher Training Institute is a voluntary four-week summer program for newly hired teachers in Baltimore, Maryland. The institute provides hands-on lessons and much-needed support for new teachers. Story and additional resources.

  • Connecticut's Story: A Model of State Teaching Policy
    CTP Teaching Quality Policy Brief (#4), Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington, June 2001.

    Connecticut's comprehensive approach to teacher development includes the Beginning Educator Support and Training Program (BEST), a oft-cited national model of teacher induction. This overview of Connecticut's experience includes a description of BEST's evolution toward performance-based assessment of beginning teachers, supported by a structured mentoring program and a year-long seminar for first- and second-year professionals.

  • Ahead of the Class: Preparing New Teachers from New Sources
    The Urban Institute (February 2001)

    This handbook, drawn from the experiences of "Pathways" programs supported by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, reviews requirements for building essential, ongoing partnerships between teacher education institutions and school districts

  • Montview Elementary School, Aurora CO

    Montview Elementary School in Aurora, CO, a winner in the National Awards Program for Model Professional Development, has "teacher-leaders" who coach both novice and seasoned teachers. School officials estimate the program costs $50,000 per year, but credit it for big gains in student scores on district assessments and for nearly eliminating achievement gaps between white and non-white students.

  • The Southeast Center for Teaching Quality

    Resources about teacher quality, mentoring, hard-to-staff schools, and quality induction programs.

Resources for Mentoring and Supporting New Teachers
(View resources for New Teacher Induction Programs and Policies)

  • New Teachers Online

    An excellent resource for new teachers and their mentors and supporters from the Teachers Network.

  • Teaching Worth Celebrating
    by Patricia Wasley. Educational Leadership. May 1999 "Supporting New Teachers" special issue.

    Most teachers do not demonstrate the full range of teaching skills and strategies, teacher researcher Pat Wasley writes, "not because they don't want to, but because they have limited images of good teaching." This article looks at mentoring and other strategies that can help insure continuous professional growth.

    Also see in this same issue:
    The Good Mentor

  • Mentoring the Mentor: A Challenge for Staff Development
    By Monica Janas. Journal of Staff Development. Fall 1996.

    In spite of a long tradition in education, there is still a lack of information about what defines a successful mentoring program and how staff development contributes to the process.

    Also see:
    The mettle of a mentor

  • Get on the Team: An Alternative Mentoring Model
    Classroom Leadership Online. May 1999.

    Through reciprocal collegial teaming, new teachers can get the same kind of mentor support while experienced teachers can share the responsibility and support one another in the process.

  • The Benefits of Mentoring
    Educational Leadership. May 2001.

    Describes current research on teacher mentoring.

  • What Successful New Teachers Are Taught
    Harry and Rosemary Wong, Teachers.Net Gazette, March 2001.

    "How to Recognize Where You Want to Be," Harry and Rosemary Wong, Teachers.Net Gazette, April 2001.

    In these articles at the online Teachers.Net Gazette, new-teacher expert Harry Wong, author of the bestselling The First Days of School, advises inexperienced teachers to move on if "the elements for your support and ultimate success in the classroom were not in place in your school or district." Wong describes the elements of quality induction programs and offers several examples.

  • Coaching Isn't Just for Athletes: The Role of Teacher Leaders
    by Ellen Guiney. Phi Delta KAPPAN (June 2001).

    In schools all over Boston, change coaches and content coaches are offering principals and teachers the kind of professional development that research says is most effective: ongoing, in school, high quality, focused on instruction. Ms. Guiney provides the details.

  • Mentoring Can't Do It All
    by Harry K. Wong. Education Week (August 8, 2001).

    New teachers need more than the assignment of a token mentor, says first-year expert Harry Wong. "If all it takes for a new teacher to succeed is to be given a mentor, then why do we need staff developers and administrators, or their respective organizations for that matter?"

  • New Teachers Learn How to Reach Middle-Schoolers
    San Diego Union-Tribune (June 28, 2001).

    California State University-San Marcos's innovative middle grades certification program breaks down stereotypes and prepares new teachers for challenges of middle school.

  • A Leader's Guide to Mentor Training
    WestEd (1990)

    This venerable guide from one of the federally supported education research labs describes a 30-hour training organized into seven modules: preparing mentors for work with beginning teachers; orientation to the mentor role; assisting new teachers; classroom organization and management for new teachers; classroom consultation, observation, and coaching; mentor as staff developer - presentations and in-service training; and cooperation between the administrator and the mentor. Handouts and transparencies are included in the guide, as well as a reference and resource section.

    Also see:
    The Mentor Teacher Casebook
    Mentoring: A Resource and Training Guide for Educators
    Designing Programs for New Teachers

  • Is a Good Teacher Always a Good Mentor?
    Journal of the Mentoring Leadership and Resource Network. Winter 1997.

    Working with adults is not the same as working with children. It is imperative that those responsible for working with adults be aware of the special characteristics of adult learners.

  • Adolescent Dancing And The Mentoring Of Beginning Teachers
    by Michelle B. Parker.

    This online research paper examines the mentor-mentee experiences of experienced and beginning teachers working in junior and senior high schools in a large urban district. Among its conclusions: "Mentors could provide the model by showing how their struggles to overcome the dilemmas of their practices could result in worthwhile experiences in which they study and learn about teaching over time."

  • Leading the Teacher Mentoring/Induction Program
    Skylight Professional Development Books (2000).

    This book by consultant Barry Sweney comes recommended by teacher quality guru Linda Darling-Hammond.

    Also see:
    Mentoring Information Categories

  • MiddleWeb's Teacher Mentoring Resources

    A collection of links and resources focused on middle grades teaching.

    Also see:
    MiddleWeb's First Days of School page

  • Teachers Talk about Induction and Mentoring

    This discussion on the MiddleWeb educators discussion listserv reveals some good practice and also underscores the skepticism about mentoring among new teachers.

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