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Improving Teacher Induction

Andrew J.Wayne, Peter Youngs,

and Steve Fleischman

No new teacher can bewholly prepared for thefirst day of school. Inassuming responsibility forthe success of their

students, new teachers must quicklyleam how to assess students' knowl-edge, plan the curriculum, set expecta-tions for classroom behavior, and buildrelationships with parents—all whiledesigning and delivering daily lessons.Whether they enter teaching through anemergency-certification route or afterimiversity coursework and studentteaching, all new teachers have a lot toleam.

Unfortunately, schools do not operatelike hospital emergency rooms, whereexperienced personnel routinely watchnovices work, spot their mistakes, giveadvice, and model new techniques.New teachers leam mostly through trialand error. Knowing that, many schoolshave sought to help new teachers leamon the job through induction programs.

What We KnowIn 1990, if you had asked a group ofnew teachers whether they receivedmentoring or participated in an induc-tion program, about half of them wouldhave said yes. By 2000, the proportionhad jumped to about four of five (Smith& Ingersoli, 2004).

Researchers still lack a clear definition of what induction means, however.What schools call "teacher induction"may consist of as little as a one-dayorientation pnjgram or a casual assign-ment of another teacher to act as amentor. Most states mandate someinduction services, but these services donot necessarily include feedback on

A comprehensive induction package could make a real

dent in teacher attrition, according to researchers.

teaching, a forma! evaluation process, ortargeted training (Fideler & Haselkom,1999).

Fewer than 1 percent of teachers getwhat the Alliance for Excellent Educa-tion (2004) calls a "comprehensive"induction package: a reduced numberof course preparations, a helpful mentorin the same field, a seminartailored to the needs ofbeginning teachers, strongcommunication withadministrators, and timefor planning and collabora-tion with other teachers.Such a package couldmake a real dent in teacherattrition, according toresearchers who haveinvestigated the variablesthat correlate with teachertumover. For example, studies suggestthat new teachers are more likely tocontinue teaching in their schools oforigin when they receive mentoringfrom teachers in tlieir subject areas(Cohen, 2005; Smith & Ingersoll. 2004).

We will eventually know more aboutteacher induction as a result of a large-scale U.S. Department of Education-sponsored study that will randomlyassign schools to treatment and controlgroups. Teachers at treatment schoolswill receive induction services akin tothe "comprehensive" package, andteachers at control schools will receiveonly what is normally provided. Thatstudy will be complete in 2008. Fornow, only one study of teacher reten-

tion has used a random-assignmentdesign; that study found that newteachers who received mentoring weremore likely to stay in their schooldistrict (Lopez, Lash, Schaffner, Shields,& Wagner, 2004),

An important related question is, Caninduction programs improve the

instructional practice ofnew teachers? Random-assignment studies havenot answered this questionclearly (Lopez et al, 2004).Tlie conventional wisdomholds that teachers typi-cally improve their instruc-tion a great deal duringtheir first few years ofteaching. Experts claimthat induction programscan accelerate the process,

especially it such programs providetraining targeted to beginning teachers'needs and pair new teachers with care-fully selected mentors who are giventhe necessary time and training(Anderson & Pellicer, 2001; Shields etal., 2004),

What You Can DoState and district policymakers areproviding resources to make inductionprograms more comprehensive, butresearch shows that much depends onthe principal. Principals and otherschool leaders must extend their rolesbeyond performance evaluation toinclude instructional support—and notjust help with classroom management.

76 EDI'CATIONAI, LF.ADERSHIH/MAY 200^

Administrators can work closely withmentors and other teachers to focus onnovices' instructional growth (Feiman-Nemser, 2001; Youngs, 2002).

Research on principal leadership andinduction indicates that school leaderscan promote instructional developmentamong beginning teachers in severalways:

• Insist on quality mentoring. Princi-pals can facilitate mentoring by creatingtime for new teachers and mentors tomeet and to observe in one another'sclassrooms (Feiman-Nemser & Parker,1992; Uttle, 1990). Principals shouldensure that mentors receive training andhave expertise in the same content areaand grade level as the new teacher. Prin-cipals can also directly encouragementors to focus on improving newteachers' instruction rather than onmerely providing moral support(Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004).

• Integrate new teachers intoschoolwide learning opportunities.Beginning teachers can leam fromcollaborative work in departments orgrade-level teams and from schoolwideprofessional development (Kardos,Johnson, Peske, Kauffman, & Liu,2001). Principals should establishregular meeting times for sucb work(Smylie & Hart, 1999).

• Promote learning during evalua-tion. Principals can help new teachersacquire and leam to apply content-specific pedagogical knowledge throughclassroom observations, post-observationconferences, and other direct consulta-tion (Danieison & McGreal, 2000; Stein& D'Amico, 2002). Principals can alsoconnect new teachers to externalsources of professional developmentthat address their individual challenges,such as setting consistent expectationsfor students or integrating assessmentinto instruction (Alliance for ExcellentEducation, 2004).

Educators Take NoteA good resource on designs and fundingstrategies for induction programs is

Susan Villani's book MentoringPrograms for New Teachers (2002).An older but still excellent resource isLearning the Ropes, published byRecruiting New Teachers (Fldeter &Haselkom, 1999).

When developing such programs,remember that although new teachersneed support, forcing them to partici-pate in too many learning activities canadversely affect their teaching. Princi-pals must be realistic. Sometimes thebest way to strengthen induction is toallow the new teacher some discretionabout which activities he or she wouldfind most valuable. 13

ReferencesAlliance for Excellent Education. (2004).

Tapping the potential: Retaining anddeveloping hig/>quality new teachers.Washington, DC: Author.

Anderson, L., & Peilicer, L (2001). Teacher

ACT

peer assistance and review: A practicalguide for teachers and administrators.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Cohen, B. A. (2005). llnhancing the"learning profession ": Improvingteacher retention with teacher induc-tion. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.University of Maryland, C ollege Park.

Danieison. C, & McGreal, T. L. (2000).Teacher evaluation to enhance profes-sional practice. Princeton, NJ: Educa-tional Testing Service.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001). From prepara-tion to practice: Designing a continuumto strengthen and sustain practice.Teachers College Record, I03((>),

Feiman-Nemsfr, S., & Parker, M. B.(1992). los Angeles mentors: Localguides or educational companions.^East Lansing, MI: National Center forResearch on Teacher Learning.

Fideler. E., & Haselkom, D. (1999).Learning the ropes: Urban teacherinduction programs and practices inthe United States. Belmont, MA:

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Rccmiting New Teachers. Inc.Kardos, S. M . Johnsoti, S. M., Peske. H. G.,

Kauffman. D . & Liu, E. (2001), Countingon colleagues: New teachers encounterthe professional cultures of theirscliools. Educational AdministrationQuarterly. J7(2), 250-290.

little, J. W. (1990). The mentor phenomenonand the social organization of teaching.In C. B. Courtney (Ed.), Review ofresearch in education. 16 (pp. 297-335).Washington, I3C: American EducationalResearch Association.

Lopez, A., Lash, A., Schaffner, M,, Shields,P.. & Wagner, M. (2{K)4), Revieiv ofresearch on tbe impact oftiegitiningteacher induction on teacher qualityand retention. Menlo Park, CA: SRIIntemationai.

Shields, P., Haslam, B,. l^Guarda. K.,Lopez, A., I^sh, A.. Schaffner, M., et ai.(2(K)4). Identification and descriptionof promising models of teacher induc-tion. Menlo Park, C\\ SRI hitemational.

Smith. T, M,, & Ingersoll, R. M. (2(M)4).Wliat arc the effects of induction andmentoring on beginning teacherturnover? American EducationalResearch Journal. 4/(3), 681-714.

Smylie, M., & Hart, A. (1999). School lead-ership for teacher learning and change:A human and social capital developmentperspective. Inj . Murphy & K. S. Louis(Eds.). Handbook of research on educa-tional administration (2nd ed.)(pp. 421-441). San Francisco: Jos.sey-Bass.

Stein, M. K.. & D Amico. L. (2002)- Inquiryat the crossroads of polic)' and learning:A study of a district-wide literacy initia-tive. Teachers College Record, 104(7).1313-1344.

Villani. S. (2002). Mentoring programs fornew teachers: Modeis of induction andsupport. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Youngs, P. (2002). State and district policyrelated to mentoring and new teacherinduction in Connecticut. New York:National Cotnmission on Teaching andAmerica's Future.

Andrew J. Wayne is a Senior ResearchAnalyst at the American Institutes forResearch (AIR), Peter Youngs is anAssistant Professor in the Department ofTeacher Education, Michigan StateUniversity, East Lansing, Michigan. SteveFleischman, series editor of this column,is a Principal Research Scientist at AIR;editorair@air.org.

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