New Teacher Induction

High-Quality Teacher Induction Programs

Induction programs are set up at the local or state level to assist beginning teachers in their first one or two years of teaching. Typically, induction programs are intended to improve new teachers' professional performance with their students and within the school community, and to keep them in the profession longer. High-quality induction programs have been shown to be effective in accomplishing these goals.

Linda Darling-Hammond (Doing What Matters Most, 1997, p. 34) notes that the proportion of new teachers who have gone through an induction program in their first year of teaching has more than tripled over the last decade, from 16-17% of teachers with more than ten years of experience to 55% of teachers who have taught for fewer than five years.

Dr. Darling-Hammond's report highlights the New Haven Unified School District in California, which has implemented that state's two-year Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) induction program for all new teachers. Jon Snyder (New Haven Unified School District: A Teaching Quality System for Excellence and Equity, 1999) examines the New Haven USD in depth, exploring induction, standards for teachers, recruitment and retention, and the organization of schools for student success.

The highly regarded New Haven program includes several areas of support, as noted below:

• Specialists oversee the induction plan written for each new teacher, observe and meet with beginning teachers, hold support meetings and observations with site mentors, conduct in-service training, assist site mentors and partner teachers, and oversee the final assessment.
• Specialists, site mentors, and partner teachers model lessons for new teachers.
• Site mentors also hold monthly site meetings, schedule release time for new teachers and partner teachers, assist partner teachers, and meet with BTSA specialists.
• Partner teachers work with beginning teachers on lesson plans, grading issues, preparing for parent conferences, and other aspects of classroom practice.
• Professional development sessions.
• Scheduling for release time and budgeting for materials.
• Scheduling monthly support meetings.

Selected readings on induction:

• Bartell, C. (1995). Shaping teacher induction policy in California. Teacher Education Quarterly, 22 (4), 27-43.
• Charnock, B. & Kiley, M. (1995). Concerns and preferred assistance strategies of beginning middle and high school teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of AERA, San Francisco, March 1995.
• Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). Doing What Matters Most: Investing in Quality Teaching.. New York: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. Fideler, E. & Haselkorn, D. (1999). Learning the Ropes: Urban Teacher Induction Programs and Practices in the United States. Belmont, MA: Recruiting New Teachers.
• Fideler, E. (2000). State-initiated induction programs: Supporting, assisting, training, assessing, and keeping teachers. NASBE State Education Standard, 1 (1), 12-16.
• National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996). What Matters Most: Teching for America's Future. New York: Author.
• National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. (1999). Creating a Mentoring Program. Washington, DC:
• Olebe, M. (1999 Spring). California Formative Assessment and Support System for Teachers (CFASST): Investing in teachers' professional development. Teaching and Change, 6 (3), 258-271.
• Perez, K., Swain, C., & Hartsough, C. S. (1997 Spring). An analysis of practices used to support new teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 24 (2), 41-52.
• Snyder, J. (1999). New Haven Unified School District: A Teaching Quality System for Excellence and Equity. New York: National Commission on Teaching & America's Future.
• Yopp, R. H. & Young, B. L. (1999 Spring). A model for beginning teacher support and assessment. Action in Teacher E