In the film What Women Want, the character played by Mel Gibson hit his head and developed the ability to read women's minds. The character then used his insights into what the women around him were thinking to make better decisions as a father, employee, and romantic interest, entertaining moviegoers. However, knocks on the head don't usually produce mental telepathy, which makes research a more effective, and less painful, way to learn about what beginning teachers want in feedback and support from the educators who are around them and who nurture them during induction.
Approximately 29 percent of beginning teachers abandon teaching or switch schools during their first three years in the profession (Ingersoll, 2002); however, effective supervision and induction support help increase retention. To better understand beginning teachers' induction needs and experiences, I undertook a year-long qualitative research project called the 20/20 Study. Four first year elementary teachers participated, and the results indicate practical suggestions about what beginning teachers want and need to be successful.
Rationale: Induction Matters
The rationale for conducting an investigation of first year teachers' experiences is based in the belief that induction can make a difference in teacher retention and teacher quality. In "The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage," Ingersoll and Smith (2003) demonstrate that, while all three increase the demand for teachers, high teacher attrition is more problematic than teacher retirement and increased student enrollment. Research demonstrates that quality induction programs can have a positive effect on teacher retention. For example, an induction program in California reported a new-teacher retention rate of 90 percent over six years (Boss, 2001). This makes retaining beginning teachers through induction support an important method to reduce the demand for teachers.
Nationwide, participation in induction programs has grown. During the 1999–2000 school year, nearly 80 percent of first year teachers in the United States participated in some form of induction—an increase of approximately 40 percent from 10 years earlier (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). However, this increase in induction program participation is not correlated with a reduction in attrition rates because the effectiveness of these programs depends on their quality and form.
Using a national data set of approximately 52,000 elementary and secondary teachers, Smith and Ingersoll generated statistics that suggest beginning teachers should receive multiple forms of induction support in order to reduce attrition. Although successful individual induction programs vary greatly, all should support beginning teachers' psychological and professional needs (Gold, 1996). However, mentoring and supportive communication from an administrator are not enough.
In order to reduce attrition rates, beginners also need common planning time with others who teach their grade or content area or they need to participate in seminars for beginning teachers, combined with one or more of the following:
- A teacher's aide.
- Reduced number of preparations.
- Participation in an external network of teachers.
Smith and Ingersoll's analysis indicates the importance of the form and quality of induction that schools provide.
Asking beginning teachers about the ups and downs of the first year of teaching is one way to assess the form and quality of induction in schools. Based on the qualitative analysis of the experiences of four entry-year teachers, the results of the 20/20 Study provide insights into how beginners are being supported as well as what they value in and want from induction support.
What Beginners Want from Their Principals
Each of the four participants in the 20/20 Study wanted feedback about her instruction from her principal. One participant, Stella (all participant names are pseudonyms), had a principal who observed her regularly and offered prompt, specific, helpful feedback. The principal not only followed district protocols for three formal observations but also informally offered more frequent feedback. Stella also described her principal as a good listener and someone she could turn to with questions. After her second formal observation, Stella reflected:
The observation was terrible! I had my principal come in during my worst class, the one I have the most trouble with, because I wanted some pointers. While she was there, a kid threw a book across the room, a kid kicked another under the desk … but, [the principal] had some good suggestions for me about questioning techniques and classroom management.
Stella's comfort with her principal was reflected by her eagerness to be observed during her most problematic class. Stella trusted her principal and knew she could count on her for constructive feedback.
It is more common for both beginning and veteran teachers to schedule observations during their best classes to ensure that they receive good evaluations. This is reasonable; teachers want to keep their jobs. Unfortunately, this practice prevents teachers from getting feedback that might help them improve their practice. By providing feedback throughout the year, rather than just during formal observations, Stella's principal sent the message that observations are not only about evaluation; observations are about support. Stella's principal took a personal interest in her and earned Stella's trust. These proactive efforts to establish an effective professional relationship allowed Stella to improve her teaching, using her principal's expertise as an instructional leader.
The three other first year teachers who participated in the 20/20 Study, Laura, Shari, and Becca, did not feel as well supported by their principals. Laura, for example, did not receive feedback on reading instruction, an area she self-identified for improvement, and she did not get to have post-observation conferences with her principal after two of her three district-required observations. This lack of feedback left Laura worried about being retained for a second year, although she was eventually notified that she was retained.
Shari and Becca shared a common struggle: getting critical feedback from their principals. Becca's early confidence and success made it look like teaching was second nature, which masked the long hours she put in outside of school hours. When Becca asked for more critical feedback, her principal said he often forgot she was a first year teacher and had to remind himself to check on her. Becca summarized what she wanted from her principal—direct, critical feedback: "I'm a first year teacher. I've got a lot to learn. It's not going to hurt my feelings if I get told I need to work on something." Becca also explained
He's never given me any form of constructive criticism. None. I don't know how he expects me to grow if I don't have anything to reach for. All of the goals that I am striving for are ones I've set myself. He hasn't set any for me. Maybe I just have a distorted view of what a principal should do because I've never had an administrator before.
When Becca was a student teacher, she spent less than an hour in direct contact with the principal. Now that she's a teacher, Becca's principal is one of the most influential people in her career. Induction trainings about how to make the most of the teacher-administrator relationship could help Becca and other beginning teachers develop effective professional relationships.
Like Becca, Shari craved more critical feedback from her principal. During post-observation conferences, she indicated areas where she wanted to improve. Shari's principal always said that she was doing fine in those areas, perhaps because of the time crunch that resulted from only having 10 minutes for post-observation conferences. Shari and Becca knew they were not perfect teachers, but they were unable to self-identify all of the ways in which they might improve. Supervision from administrators and veteran colleagues should not only praise good practice but also include identification of areas in need of growth and codevelopment of improvement plans.
What Beginners Want from Induction Programs
Mentoring is a common component of induction programs. Each of the 20/20 Study participants wanted someone she could turn to for advice and support. Stella, Shari, and Laura were assigned mentors. None of these relationships proved to be beneficial. Unfortunately for Stella, her mentor taught at a different grade level and had a different planning period, both of which are characteristics that contribute to less effective mentoring relationships (Ganser, 2001) and can increase the likelihood of attrition (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). As a result, Stella once had a three-week gap between an observation and meeting with her mentor. Stella's mentor was also critical of her relationship with the principal, apparently because her mentor thought it would appear that Stella didn't know how to do her job if she asked an administrator for advice. Stella was relieved when the mentoring relationship officially ended in March and her mentor stopped talking to her.
Stella wished that her district allowed beginning teachers to find their own authentic mentoring relationships, rather than forcing her to participate in an ineffective one. This desire is consistent with Beyene, Anglin, Sanchez, and Ballou's (2002) assertion that developing effective mentoring relationships is not a mechanical process with guaranteed results based on random assignment.
Laura's mentoring relationship was also problematic. Her mentor was only a fourth year teacher and was also new to the grade level at which they both taught. Laura's mentor was sympathetic, but she was unable to provide adequate support because of her inexperience. The problems with this mentoring assignment were apparent as early as October, when Laura told me, "If I had it all to do over again, I would ask for a mentor who has been around for longer and has things figured out."
Stella was the only 20/20 Study participant who taught in a school district with an official induction program that included an assigned mentor and training sessions for beginning teachers. In January, she summarized her feelings about the support she received: "I'm ready to be done with this whole stupid induction thing." The first meeting was held in mid-September and involved an all-day workshop. For Stella, the potential benefits of this opportunity were negated because it required her to prepare plans for a substitute teacher when she was still figuring out how to plan for herself. She decided that the induction meetings are "basically a repeat of college. Last time, for example, we had the special education teacher, and it was just a repeat of things I already knew."
In contrast, since there were no induction meetings in her district, Shari got to attend two regional conferences. She found these trainings valuable in part because she got to select the sessions she attended. One-size-fits-all induction, like what Stella received, assumes that all beginners need the same training. Like the students they teach, however, beginning teachers have different strengths and weaknesses and thus require differentiated support. This is a summary of suggestions for strengthening induction programs that are supported by the findings of the 20/20 Study:
What Beginning Teachers Want
- Encourage a school climate where beginning and veteran teachers ask colleagues and administrators for help.
- Schedule post-observation conferences within a week of classroom observations and provide ample time for discussion.
- Offer feedback on the teaching goals that beginners have self-identified.
- Help beginners brainstorm ways to improve their self-identified concerns.
- Offer constructive feedback about deficit areas.
- Supplement formal observations with informal visits to beginners' classrooms for ongoing feedback and support.
- Offer differentiated professional development opportunities as part of induction programs.
- Ensure that mentors are veteran teachers, teach similar grade levels or content areas as their mentees, and share a common planning period. Veterans who recently switched grade level or content areas should serve as mentors after they have at least one year of experience in their new position.
- Remember that beginners are already working long hours. Minimize requests to serve on committees, and make induction meetings meaningful.
Changing Behavior
Change happens slowly in education. Some blame the isolated nature of teaching for the slow pace of change; despite spending their days surrounded by children, teachers spend little time practicing their craft in the presence of other professionals (Lortie, 1977). Parker noted, "If surgery and the law were practiced as privately as teaching, we would still treat most patients with leeches and sink defendants in millponds" (1998, p. 144). This quote relates to the experiences of beginning teachers in two ways. First, isolation may contribute to teacher attrition (Rosenholtz, 1989). Second, Parker's reference to antiquated legal and medical practices may be analogous to what Patterson called "hazing" of beginning teachers: "institutional practices and policies that result in new teachers experiencing poorer working conditions than their veteran colleagues" (2005, p. 21). Hazing can involve beginning teachers
- Being assigned three or more preps, while veteran teachers have only one or two.
- Being "roamers" without a classroom.
- Having more special needs students assigned to their classes than other teachers do.
- Being assigned to the "least desirable" courses or grade levels.
Because education is slow to change, these practices continue despite long-standing recommendations to do otherwise (Huling-Austin, 1986; Lortie, 1975; Rosenholtz, 1989). The changes suggested by the research-based findings of the 20/20 Study can be the building blocks for larger, systematic changes in school culture that will have extraordinary benefits for teachers and students. If they heed these recommendations, principals and others who support beginning teachers can make behavioral changes that will strengthen induction, which will reduce attrition.
