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Commitment to Retaining
Talented Teachers
Training is a component of many teacher induction programs. All too often,
inductees have received insufficient professional preparation. With increasing
numbers of inductees entering the classroom via alternative routes, many
induction programs today are compensating for little or no previous training
whatsoever, in effect blurring the line between teacher preparation and
induction.
Even if your new hires have had traditional teacher education, they often come
unprepared for the first year of teaching, especially in urban classrooms.
Sometimes, even an aspiring urban teacher who shines when placed for her eight-
week practicum in an "exemplary" school, with excellent teachers and a rich
learning environment, may well be hopelessly unprepared to cope with
conditions in the mediocre or failing school that is likely to be her first
assignment.

The most effective type of training program is that which is part of a teacher's
ongoing professional development. Viewed as part of continuing education,
content and complexity grow as the inductee matures into a seasoned teacher.
Completing your first year as a fully responsible teacher in an urban school has
nothing to do with having been "successful" in a college preparation program.
Even if you student-taught in an urban school, you were never accountable to the
parents and principal for students' learning and behavior.
Training programs for beginning teachers often are determined by courses that
the state or district requires (and sometimes finances). Training typically is
conducted by a staff developer and a cadre of teacher trainers; central office
personnel, site administrators, or consultants also may facilitate workshops. The
best training programs are those that include ongoing assessments of the
particular needs of individual beginning teachers, and design workshops,
seminars, and course work based on these needs.
Training can take many forms, including:
- Observation in other classrooms in same school
- Workshops/seminars
- Conferences
- Observations in other schools
- Reflection on practice/journal writing
- Team teaching (novice + experienced teacher)
- Individual induction plan
- Psychological support
- Teacher-led inquiry/action research
- Case-based discussion
- Electronic networking
You can hold induction activities in the same school building the inductee works
in, at a different school site or professional development center, or you can rotate
activities among different school sites. Induction activities can be held during the
school day, after school, on weekends, or even before school.
Curriculum

Program content often deals with perceived barriers to inductee success.
Common curricular topics for induction include addressing inadequate classroom
management skills and inability to handle disruptive students.
Curriculum topics you might include:
- District/system policies, paperwork
- Classroom management
- School policies, paperwork
- Organizing time/work schedules
- Classroom discipline
- Instruction/pedagogy
- Planning
- Student assessment
- Available resources
- K-12 curriculum
- Special education
- Cultural sensitivity/diversity
- Parent involvement
- School improvement/reform
- Stress management
- Educational research
- School/community violence
- Second language acquisition
Assessment
With growing attention to teacher accountability for student learning, inductee
performance assessments should be designed to help the inductee meet
standards and to determine if the inductee should remain in teaching.
Whether evaluations are conducted by school site administrators, peer teachers,
or a team including university faculty members, all inductees (not just those lucky
enough to have a mentor) are entitled to comparable amounts and types of
support prior to assessment. Local and state standards (both for student
achievement and teacher performance) should be clearly stated and available to
inductees when hired.
Professional Portfolios

Some states and districts have introduced the use of professional portfolios as a
method for aiding teacher assessment. Inductees prepare and submit a teaching
portfolio, which documents planning, teaching, and student learning. The
portfolio includes multiple sources of information (such as videos of teacher-
directed instruction and student-centered lessons, teacher commentaries, and
samples of student work). If teaching portfolios are required, inductees should
receive clear guidance as to their development.
Peer Review
Peer review represents a shift away from the traditional model of assessment
(administrators supervising and evaluating new teachers) to one where
experienced teachers support, assist, and appraise inductees. Peer assistance and
review programs offer leadership roles for exemplary teachers, who are
responsible for assuring quality in their profession. Schools that use peer review
have found that it can successfully assist and support teachers and also be
effective in weeding out incompetent teachers.
Inductees are screened rigorously at entry level by their peers. Teachers must
present evidence of continual growth and renewal in order to advance their
careers. Supervisors, who formerly monitored teacher performance, have been
eliminated. Teacher evaluation has become a responsibility shared by principals
and a select corps of experienced teachers.
The evaluation process is one of continuous mutual goal setting based on detailed
observations and follow-up conferences, in which intern and consultant analyze
and set practical goals for improvement based on specific evaluation criteria.
Consulting teachers submit periodic reports to an intern board of review
regarding the status of each of the interns with whom they are working. During
the first year, the observations and subsequent evaluations are completed solely
by the consulting teacher. Consultants submit a final evaluation of interns'
progress and recommend to the board the future status of interns' employment.
Areas in which the interns are evaluated include teaching procedures, classroom
management, knowledge of subject, and academic preparation.

The Peer Assistance program, designed by teachers, broadened the original
program to incorporate a career ladder, with new teacher roles and
compensation, teacher empowerment, and school-based planning.
At the heart of the program is the concept of peer review and assistance, in which
lead teachers take responsibility for assuring teacher quality. The Peer Assistance
program determines whether a teacher moves up the career ladder, which has
four stages: intern, resident, professional, and lead teacher.
Components of peer review and assistance include:
- Assistance by a lead teacher during the first year of teaching, after which the
new teacher is recommended, terminated, or put on probation.
- After the first year, under the Performance Appraisal Review for Teachers,
teachers are evaluated annually by a team. Every three years, teachers receive an
intensive summative evaluation, based in part on student performance.
- A teacher having problems can seek the help of a lead teacher, who connects
her to district resources.
No longer are graduates of teacher preparation programs in those states fully or
permanently licensed when they start teaching. Instead, those states have made
qualifying for full licensure part of the induction process: states grant graduates of
teacher preparation programs initial or provisional licensure and evaluate their
competence. And, more often than not, states ask districts to provide a support
component to guide and mentor inductees (or "interns," as they are often called)
as they prepare for assessment.
Commitment to Retaining Talented Teachers/Beginning Teacher Support and
Assessment
While there is no one induction model that would serve all districts, it is helpful to
look around for ideas.
The new program increases new teachers' confidence and satisfaction while
improving their teaching practices. Ninety-one percent of beginning teachers who
complete the new program remain in teaching, as compared to a national average
well below that.

What is the mission of the program?
The goal of the program is for new teachers to experience enhanced professional
growth and development and become increasingly attached to teaching through a
rich and thoughtful induction process. Each will gain a professional voice by
working in close concert with experienced colleagues and trained assessors to
chart their own progress through the continuum of skills, knowledge, and abilities
associated with each domain of the profession.
What are the key elements?
- Support by a mentor
- Clinical supervision regarding reflection and portfolio work
- Formative assessments of teaching practice
- Professional development to promote effectiveness with students
- Retention in teaching
- Satisfaction with the occupation
What about standards and assessment?
More than any other program of this type, the new program uses standards as
the basis for individual learning activities as well as annual program accountability
reviews. Standards have been developed by outstanding teachers and other
educators to ensure program excellence. These serve as the "bench-marks" that
guide the consultations and activities of beginning teachers, their support
providers, and their formative assessors. In each new teacher's Individual
Induction Plan, teachers aim toward eventual accomplishment of the new
teaching standards.
In this model, which is being used voluntarily in new projects, experienced
professionals learn how to manage an integrated process of assessment,
assistance, implementation, reflection on practice, and further assessment on the
part of each beginning teacher.
How are the projects coordinated?
A project may be coordinated by an individual district, districts in collaboration
with colleges and universities, or large consortia in which districts, colleges and
universities, and county offices of education work together. To assist local

managers of new projects, a regional structure has been established in which
highly experienced consultants support the recruitment of effective support
providers, coordinate training plans, assist in implementing the Support System
for teachers, and answer questions.
What else does the Teacher Support and Assessment offer?
Sponsors training programs for the veteran teachers who assist and support first-
and second-year teachers. Additionally, offers specialized training for site
administrators in participating schools, for seasoned educators who assess the
performance of new teachers, and for local managers who initiate new projects.
The program was designed to provide group and individual support for beginning
teachers working in central-city schools and to establish a program of formative
assessment to guide professional growth.
Benefits to participants:
- A collegial and nurturing program that provides an informal network for new
teachers
- Individualized in-classroom support from mentor teachers, University coaches,
and district resource teacher coaches
- Nonevaluative and nonjudgmental assistance
- Monthly cluster group meetings which address inductees' individual professional
development goals
- Two units of district salary advancement credit (tuition fee included)
- Opportunity for professional growth for renewal of clear credential
- Mini-grants for classroom materials
- Four release days to attend all-day seminars and mentor observations
- Opportunities for observing in classrooms and conferring with university-based
and district coaches, other beginning teachers, mentors, and project resource
teachers
- Opportunities to document professional growth through development of a
personal portfolio
- All benefits of the district's New Teacher Induction program
Inductee support
District mentors and school site coaches customize support to each teacher's
needs. We never play to the negatives, we avoid getting hung up on the

discouraging realities of the urban classroom. Instead, we emphasize what we can
do to help inductees have a successful year.
For every cluster of teachers, a district mentor is either on-site or comes on a
regular basis to observe classes (at least once per month) and provide in-class
technical assistance; a faculty member serves as coach, helping teachers with
development of their professional portfolios and written reflection on practice,
and visiting their classrooms two to three times per month; and a school site
resource teacher supports new participants. Mentors and coaches are trained
together during two days of diversity training, one day of support provider
training, two days of portfolio development training, plus at least four additional
staff meetings each year.
Checklist for Developing an Induction Program
Use the following summary as a checklist for developing your program:
- Understand the value of developing an induction program in your district.
- Put together a planning team to design, coordinate, and integrate program
components.
- Gather as much information as possible to determine teacher needs and district
needs.
- Collaborate with partner organizations.
- Determine who will manage your program and how it will be funded.
- Design a program in which orientation, assistance, training, and assessment are
not separate, unrelated elements, but parts of a whole.
- Plan an induction program that is a multiyear, developmental process.
- Ensure that school site administrators understand how to orient inductees,
create supportive working conditions for them, and effectively meet their
professional needs.
- Provide a first-class mentoring program, backed by funding adequate to serve all
eligible inductees.
- Link inductee evaluation to district- and state-level standards.
- Invest in technology.
- Evaluate program effectiveness.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web
Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer,

Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles
and special reports.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/commitment-to-retaining-talented-
teachers/

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Commitment to Retaining Talented Teachers

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