John is a second-year math teacher in North Carolina. He loves math and loves to explain it, but he dislikes when his school administration throws its rules out the window to give offending or threatening students "one more chance" over and over again.
Angela, a social studies and math teacher in Minnesota, didn't plan on spending her first year in school filling out paperwork in duplicate and triplicate. For every event, there is a form: student detention, staff development workshop, field trip, illness, or referring a child to special education. Please don't talk to her about supply requisitions.
Alex Ramos has just finished his first year teaching English, language arts, and journalism in Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in Florida. Although he sees job opportunities all around to "make more money with less effort," where appreciation is greater and the fruits of one's labors are more immediate and "not just test scores," Ramos looks forward to teaching again in September "because I learned so much my first year." Nonetheless, like John and Angela, Ramos is still not sure that teaching will be hisprofession.
"I'm not scared to change careers," Ramos says bluntly.
What makes these and other new teachers so ready to abandon their mission to teach, and what can superintendents and principals do to keep them?
A recent report, A Sense of Calling: Who Teaches and Why, released by the nonpartisan think tank Public Agenda, offers some insight.
Surprisingly, money is not the main issue, the report shows. When 914 teachers with five years' experience or less were given a choice between a significantly higher teaching salary and working in a school with administrators who are strongly supportive, 82 percent of them chose strong school leaders who would "stand behind" them. Even more new teachers would give up a higher salary to work in a school with better student behavior and parental support.
Creating a supportive atmosphere and sustaining teacher morale can be done in a variety of ways. In 1996, the Report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future pointed out that mentoring programs could help stem the flow of the nearly 30 percent of teachers who leave within five years of entry. Such efforts become even more critical for disadvantaged school districts, where attrition rates are higher.
Support from the Top
The success of a mentoring program or induction program depends on district and school leaders who are willing to allocate or reallocate resources and promote the professional growth of new teachers, say experts. As one education consultant put it: "Whatever a superintendent wants, a superintendent gets."
That's what happened in the Redondo Beach Unified School District in California. Like many districts in the state, Redondo Beach uses the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program, a statewide program for first- and second-year teachers. BTSA pairs a new teacher with a veteran or "support provider" for two years and requires the principal to observe the probationary teacher four times a year. In addition, two staff members dedicated to BTSA also conduct observations. Evaluation of probationary teachers starts early in the year, by December, so correctives can be applied if bad habits are forming.
The BTSA program has contributed to California's 98 percent teacher retention rate. In Redondo Beach schools, enough veteran teachers have been recruited and trained to mentor new teachers on-site and at the appropriate grade level so that "there's an instant opportunity for new teachers to say 'help!'" says Anita "Chris" Chavez, assistant superintendent for personnel services.
Redondo Beach district staff members credit superintendent William Nunan with bringing BTSA to their district and pushing the training and support of new teachers as the wisest investment a district can make.
Jan Fisher, a staff development consultant for Redondo Beach who was hired with another teacher to administer Redondo Beach's mentoring program, notes that Nunan "continually expresses his belief in new teachers" with principals and administrators, joins meetings of new teachers and their mentors, and updates the board of
education to get their continued financial support for BTSA.
"It's this kind of support—from the top—that makes BTSA a priority in Redondo," says Fisher.
In addition to using BTSA, Redondo Beach ensures that new teachers do not take on lots of demanding duties or extra work, such as mixed-grade classrooms or extracurricular activities. "New teachers tend to want to do everything. We encourage them not to, so they don't burn out early in their career," says Chavez.
Because of the BTSA mentoring program, Redondo Beach has increased the competency of new teachers, district officials say. Megan Scannell, Redondo Beach's executive director of pupil personnel, staff development, and technology, has seen another benefit of veterans' mentoring new teachers: fewer student referrals to special education from new teachers.
"I have a gut feeling it's because they're better prepared. They don't have to go to the nth degree before trying different interventions," Scannell says. Because the new teacher has been networking with other teachers, she can draw on their pool of experience to find appropriate strategies for struggling students.
"We create a support system that allows them to keep the idealism—but with a dose of realism," Scannell emphasizes.
A Chance to Talk
There are many other strategies that schools can use to welcome and encourage fledgling teachers.
In the Pottstown School District outside Philadelphia, Pa., rookie teachers must take courses on classroom management skills, instruction, and leadership in the classroom. The principal of Pottstown Senior High School meets monthly with new teachers to allow them to talk, vent, and seek guidance. These teachers in turn must observe seasoned teachers and write reflections about what they see, notes Pottstown's assistant principal, William Ziegler.
In September, Ziegler will hold an additional one-on-one conference with each new teacher to discuss issues of discipline, classroom management, and managerial aspects of the building. He also plans to visit new teachers daily. The school averages between 5 and 10 new teachers a year, mainly hired to replace retiring faculty.
"Second-year teachers are valuable for connecting with the rookie, because their memories of the first year are still fresh," says Ziegler. Pottstown encourages informal relationship building among rookies and these "recently new" teachers in addition to the official mentoring program with veteran teachers.
But sometimes it's the little things that count. "We always make sure that new teachers' pictures are [hanging in the school lobby] before the first day of school," says Ziegler. That way, other teachers can remember their names, which is a first step in becoming part of a community.
Fostering Community
The University of Miami's Eveleen Lorton, professor of English education, believes the "it takes a village" outlook especially helps new teachers. All colleagues—from the principal to the second-year teacher, and fellow new teachers—can provide unique viewpoints and support for the beginner.
In the past few years, the hot topic among educators has been school leadership, admits Lorton. "Leadership in the school is a determining factor" for encouraging and keeping new teachers. A principal should be "open, warm, and supportive in every sense of the word—a listener. He or she doesn't have to be somebody who walks on water or knows everything, but [a good principal] is one who is willing to work with teachers."
Melvin Dennis, principal of Bel-Aire Elementary School in Miami, believes that strengthening collegial ties between new and old teachers and persevering in the quest to increase parental involvement help create a supportive atmosphere for new teachers. Bel-Aire has been designated a training ground for preservice teachers from the University of Miami because of Dennis's success in fostering a professional community at a school where many students come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
"These are the kids whom people have written off for some reason," says Robert Moore, education professor at the University of Miami. Yet, it's schools like Bel-Aire where new teachers often start—and get discouraged because of behavior problems, Moore adds. Moore works on-site at Bel-Aire with the university's "associate teachers"—preservice teachers gaining field experience at a school.
To help them be successful, Dennis makes sure associate teachers and new teachers first understand the school's attitude toward its children. His philosophy? "It's important for these students to feel good about school, because they haven't seen success in their community." An educator at Bel-Aire needs to convey to students the message that "I'm going to work with you whether you're angry, whether you didn't have dinner last night. We'll get you what you need because you're important to us, and it's important that you get an education."
Dennis designates veteran teachers as team leaders; they not only give grade-level support to new teachers but also invite them out to dinner to get to know them better. New teachers also work alongside experienced ones in Bel-Aire's Make and Take workshop, which brings parents and teachers together at the beginning of the school year to share learning activities that parents can take home to reinforce learning.
Involving new teachers in the life of the Bel-Aire school community, Dennis believes, keeps teachers at his school. Only seven new teachers have joined Bel-Aire's staff of 38 in the last five years.
Moore also credits Dennis's openness to new teaching ideas and classroom observations for his teachers, which are promoted as "opportunities to learn."
"Being isolated doesn't work," says Dennis. "It's not about you doing something in your classroom all for yourself, it's all about sharing best practices."
Redondo Beach's Megan Scannell would agree: "New teachers are our future. We have to treat them as the professionals they are, and that means setting them up for success."
