At a conference sponsored by the Alliance for Excellent Education on October 4, advocates for robust new-teacher support systems gathered to change the current discourse “from evaluation to induction.” Richard Ingersoll, professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke about an analysis he released last year of the National Center for Education Statistics’ 2007-08 School and Staffing Survey. His data showed that the teaching force “has been ballooning in size over the past couple of decades…the growth is outstripping the growth of students by two and a half times.”
As a result, there has been a lot of hiring, and many of those new hires are novice teachers—what he calls the “greening” of the teaching force. Ingersoll said that 81% of new teachers have mentors, but only just over half actively collaborate with colleagues, and rarely do they get a reduced course-load their first year—something that is common for professors at the college level.
He discussed his 2004 analysis of the 1999-2000 SASS figures showing that attrition rates differ based on the types of induction services teachers receive. Those who receive little or no induction have a 21% attrition rate after the first year; of those who receive “comprehensive” services (about 2% of teachers overall), only 9% leave after their first year.
Ellen Moir, CEO of the New Teacher Center, spoke later in the day and agreed that teacher education programs on their own “are not really preparing new teachers for what it’s like to be in an urban setting…what they’re offering is a simulated experience.” Gwendolyn Benson, associate dean in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, added that teacher education programs can help reduce attrition by implementing strong induction programs.
Though value-added measurement of teachers was not specifically addressed, the discussions during the conference seemed partly driven by concern that with so much attention being paid to teacher evaluation, teacher induction could become overshadowed. “The bad news is that there’s too much dialogue about getting rid of lousy teachers and not enough on how to develop the teachers we have,” said Moir. It was the only statement that morning followed by applause from the 60-person audience.
To read more, please visit http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2011/10/teacher_induction_advocates_extol_teacher_induction.html
To view the entire panel discussion, visit http://media.all4ed.org/briefing-oct-4-2011
**Core Education, LLC is pleased to offer induction program design and services to states and districts. See http://www.coreeducationllc.com/PD.php for more information.
