Tapping the Potential - Alliance for Excellent Education

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TA P P I N G T H E P O T E N T I A L : R E TA I N I N G A N D D E V E L O P I N G H I G H - Q U A L I T Y N E W T E A C H E R STHE INDUCTION ENGINE: COMPONENTS OFCOMPREHENSIVE INDUCTIONQuality induction proven to retainand develop new teachers is a bundleof several types of supports and assessments.What follows is a rigorous descriptionof the essential components of comprehensiveinduction. Without them,induction is a car without an engine.Because induction programs vary sowidely, educators and policymakers needto understand the common componentsthat make up comprehensive induction sothey can recognize good induction whenthey see it. Knowing the components ofinduction can guide decisionmakers at thefederal, state, and local levels about whatto require, expect, and fund. Articulatingquality criteria is also an important steptoward equity, ensuring that every beginningteacher has the opportunity to developinto a high-quality professional.Stand By Me: High-QualityMentoringComprehensive induction programsmatch new teachers with one or moreexperienced and trained teachers whomentor new teachers. Mentors supportand coach novice teachers in several ways.They spend regular time observing newteachers in the classroom, offering themfeedback, demonstrating effective teachingmethods, assisting with lesson plans,and helping teachers analyze student workand achievement data. Quality mentorsalso assess novice teachers to determinehow their practice should improve inorder to raise student achievement andmeet teaching standards.The process of selecting and assigningmentors is crucial to induction’s success.The mere presence of a guide doesnot improve teaching. 66 “If mentors simplypass on their own teaching practices,regardless of whether they are effectiveor not,” researchers Richard Ingersolland Jeffrey Kralik warn, “programsmight tend to stifle innovation or theimplementation of new approaches onthe part of beginning teachers.” 67Mentors need to be selected using thefollowing characteristics:• Quality mentors are good teachers of students.The best mentors have strongcontent knowledge of the subject theyteach, a proven ability to raise studentachievement, and success workingwith linguistically and ethnicallydiverse students. 68Knowing the componentsof induction can guidedecisionmakers at thefederal, state, and locallevels about what torequire, expect, and fund.The process of selectingand assigning mentors iscrucial to induction’ssuccess.13
A L L I A N C E F O R E X C E L L E N T E D U C AT I O NFor their induction work,which is often done inaddition to regularclassroom teaching,mentors need recognitionand support.• Quality mentors are good teachers of teachers.Besides exemplary teaching, thebest mentors have the ability to learn anew set of skills: teaching teachers. 69Mentors communicate how to teach asmuch as what to teach. They must beable to model successful teaching in away that makes it possible for otherteachers to learn from them.• Quality mentors are matched with teachersin the same subject area. Ideally, mentorswork in the same subject (e.g., math)or field (e.g., special education) astheir novice teachers. Research confirmswhat common sense knows: mentorsmaximize their skill base when theycoach teachers who do similar work,especially at the high school level,where teachers specialize in specific disciplinessuch as geometry or literature.Currently, however, less than half ofbeginning teachers are mentored byteachers from the same subject area. 70But even great teachers will not mentorsuccessfully without additional training.Training prepares mentors to useformative assessments—to identify newteachers’ needs, assess their practice, andhelp them plan improvement in order toreach professional standards. 71 Formativeassessments are regular, guided reflectionsthat evaluate how well teachingpractices lead to student learning.For example, a mentor might reviewstudent achievement data on midyeartests with a new teacher to see how his orher daily homework assignments do or donot lead to student progress. In a series ofdialogues, mentor and teacher wouldidentify particular struggling students,reflect on the teacher’s work with thosestudents, and strategize how to tailorfuture homework assignments to get betteroutcomes. In the future, for example,the teacher might plan to assign a groupproject instead of book reports, orrequire shorter essays instead of a longerresearch paper.For their induction work, which isoften done in addition to regular classroomteaching, mentors need recognitionand support. Some induction programspay mentors stipends and offerthem extra professional developmentmoney. Others identify mentors as masterteachers and give them greater responsibility,with larger salaries. Incentives likeincreased pay and promotion reward asThe New Teacher Center Formative Assessment SystemThe New Teacher Center Formative Assessment System (NTC FAS) is a series of “collaborative processes”that focus on how new teachers canimprove student learning. During the first month of school, mentors collaborate with beginning teachers to assess their practice, set goalsaligned with state teaching standards, and form an individual learning plan to reach those goals. Mentors observe and meet with their teachersweekly to discuss growth, pinpoint areas for improvement, and analyze student work and teacher work (e.g., lesson plans and journal entries)to track the teacher’s progress. Early in the year, mentors and teachers assemble a class profile that identifies their students’ needs and planshow the teacher can place them in groups to promote learning. They also select one student as a case study to follow her or his progressthroughout the year. During the school year, teachers and mentors regularly analyze student data, plan their lessons accordingly, set upprofessional development activities, and prepare to work with parents. By the end of the year, teachers and their mentors have consistentlyand systematically reflected on their teaching and measured how it has led to improved student learning. 72For more information about NTC FAS and the New Teacher Center, at the University of California at Santa Cruz, see Appendix A.14
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