Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
September 5, 1999, Sunday ,City Edition
SECTION: LEARNING; Pg. L9
LENGTH: 808 words
HEADLINE:
Report urges more support for new teachers;
Without mentors, many don't last
three years in education field
BYLINE: By Barbara Hall,
Globe Correspondent
BODY:
New
teachers need to be given "a fighting chance" to succeed, according to a new
report on teacher induction that notes that more than 20 percent of teachers
don't last three years in the field.
"We must give new teachers a
fighting chance at being effective and successful, to keep them from exiting in
discouragement," says Elizabeth F. Fideler, co-author, with David Haselkorn, of
"Learning the Ropes," a recent report on US teacher induction.
The
report was produced by Recruiting New Teachers, Inc., a nonprofit organization
based in Belmont and founded in 1986 to address conditions in teaching.
Nationally, the report states, more than one-fifth of new teachers leave their
posts within three years. Slightly more than 9 percent leave before finishing
their first year. This attrition rate becomes all the more stark against the
backdrop of an impending US teacher shortage. Because of such factors as
increasing student enrollment and an anticipated escalation of teacher
retirement, some 2 million new teachers will be needed in America during the
next decade.
New teachers, says the report, are likely to face
"frustration, overwhelming experiences, also increasing doubts about their
choice of profession."
"Trial by fire" is the phrase used in the
report's introduction to describe the ordeal of fledgling teachers.
To
counter this, Recruiting New Teachers offers six general recommendations.
- Education professionals should view the process of induction, or
bringing new teachers into the field, "as a multiyear, developmental process"
that allows a teacher's circumstances to evolve "from basic survival to teacher
leadership."
- Principals should be trained "so that they understand how
toorient and support" newteachers.
- Administrators should "es-tablish a
first-rate mentoringprogram backed up by enoughfunding to serve all eligible
in-ductees."
- Evaluation of new teachers should be closely linked to
district and school standards.
- School systems should "invest in
technology to facilitate communication among teachers" through electronic mail,
on-line forums, and bulletin boards.
- There should be means of
evaluating whether methods of induction are "resolving attrition and building
teacher competence."
According to Fideler, Recruiting New Teachers began
research for "Learning the Ropes" in 1996. The project was financed by the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the
DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.
"We did a thorough review of the
literature at the start," Fideler says. "For our program survey, we polled 1,000
of the largest cities and towns across the country. We did a scan, or survey, of
each of the state education agencies, including the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico, to find out their level of support for the induction process. And
we did 10 site visits" from Las Vegas to Norfolk, Va., to Rochester, N.Y.
New England induction efforts are conspicuously absent from the report.
"There apparently isn't much induction to report here," Fideler says.
Connecticut, she says, is an exception with its active mentoring program.
"More than 10 years ago, Massachusetts had a joint task force on teacher
preparation," she says. "There was talk then about the importance of mentoring
support for new teachers. But the state never funded it."
The public
supports teacher mentoring, says Fideler, a former Framingham teacher.
In the Recruiting New Teachers poll, "The Essential Profession,"
released in November 1998, "we asked, 'What proposed reforms will make the most
difference in student achievement?' " Fideler says. "Some of the choices were
school uniforms, school vouchers, and other strategies. One of the strategies
was providing each beginning teacher with a mentor, a veteran teacher who would
help the beginning novice. The public told us by 94 percent that they understand
and support the idea of mentoring."
Recruiting New Teachers has an ally
in Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Reed, a member of the Committee
of Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, introduced in mid-July the
Professional Development Reform Act, which focuses on teacher induction. Reed's
legislation, part of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, would fund the creation of mentoring, team-teaching,
peer-observation, and coaching programs. The full Senate is expected to consider
the proposal this month. It calls for $1 billion in fiscal year
2000, with the same amount allotted each year through 2004.
"We're
reacting to the same phenomenon Recruiting New Teachers is seeing," Reed says.
At the same time, he expresses consternation that the New England region hasn't
a higher profile in "Learning the Ropes."
"My sense is that we're not
doing enough," he says. "We've got to do more."
GRAPHIC: DRAWING
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