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 Sinto the context of the community wherethey work and how it embodies professionalteaching standards. Effective inductiontailors its quality components to localexperiences as well as professional standardsso that teachers become high-qualityeducators well suited to practice in theirlocal community, district, and state.Adequate and Stable FundingComprehensive induction requires asignificant and steady financial commitmentto keep it running. With their dollars,policymakers determine what kind ofinduction teachers will receive. In the2003–04 school year, only fifteen statesrequired and funded mentoring-basedinduction programs. 100 Several states facingbudget crises zeroed out funding forinduction or did not require beginningteachers to be inducted for that year.Without steady funding, the financialresponsibility for induction shifts to localschool districts, forcing poor districts to createand finance their own programs. Somehomegrown programs are successful. Someare not. The unfortunate and inequitablereality is that high-poverty schools, whichneed induction the most, are usually toopoor, too small, or too understaffed to adequatelysupport their teachers. The result isthat chance decides the fate of teachers inhigh-poverty schools.High-poverty schools,which need induction themost, are usually too poor,too small, or toounderstaffed to adequatelysupport their teachers.States That Required and Funded Mentoring or Induction in 2003–04 101StateArkansasCaliforniaConnecticutDelawareIndianaIowaKentuckyLouisianaNew JerseyNew MexicoNorth CarolinaOhioSouth CarolinaVirginiaWest VirginiaProgramPathwise ModelBeginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSA)Beginning Educator Support and Training Program (BEST)Delaware New Teacher Mentoring ProgramBeginning Teacher Induction Program (BTIP)*Beginning Teacher Mentoring and Induction ProgramKentucky Teacher Internship Program (KTIP)Louisiana Teacher Assistance and Assessment Program (LaTAAP)Teachers must complete a two-year mentoring programTeachers must complete a mentoring program of one to three yearsNorth Carolina Initial Licensure ProgramEntry Year ProgramAssisting Developing and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT)Teachers must complete a one-year mentoring programBeginning Teacher Internships*Beginning in 2006, the newly crafted Beginning Teacher Assessment Program will replace BTIP.27
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 NTHE ROLE OF FEDERAL POLICYEvery federal effort toimprove teacher qualityand the availability ofinduction is one more steptoward providing highquality,comprehensiveinduction for everybeginning teacher.Historically, the federal governmenthas worked to ensure that everychild has equal access to a quality education,no matter where they live or howwealthy their school may be. More recently,this attention to equity has expandedto include efforts to improve teacherquality. The next logical step in the federalgovernment’s teacher-quality role is tocall for the provision of high-qualityinduction for every teacher and to fundits provision in high-need schools.Federal policymakers have recentlypaid a great deal of attention to the qualityof our nation’s teaching force.Recognizing the impact of teacher qualityon student achievement, the No ChildLeft Behind Act requires schools to fillevery classroom with a “highly qualified”teacher and to provide “high-quality” professionaldevelopment to all teachers.In 2004, federal legislators began toaddress the need for teacher induction asthey prepared to reauthorize the HigherEducation Act (HEA). Title II of HEAprovides Teacher Quality EnhancementGrants to partnerships of postsecondaryinstitutions and high-need school districtsfor the recruitment and preparation ofK–12 teachers. In the 108th Congress,several senators introduced bills thatwould strengthen the definition of induction,making it a more prominent allowableactivity.Every federal effort to improve teacherquality and the availability of induction isone more step toward providing highquality,comprehensive induction for everybeginning teacher. However, at present,no efforts have been made to ensure thatinduction is comprehensive. Nor have federalpolicymakers ensured that new teachersserving in high-need schools participatein comprehensive induction.Without induction, federal efforts toimprove teaching are weakened and mayultimately make little lasting improvement.Federal policymakers currentlyallocate large sums of money for recruitingteachers into high-need schools, andthey expend a great deal of energyensuring that every classroom has a“highly qualified” teacher. But policymakersprovide very little money or energyto keep those highly qualified teachersin the classroom long enough tobecome professionals who consistentlyimprove student achievement.28
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Tapping the Potential - Alliance for Excellent Education

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