Many studies have shown that school systems loose a high percentage of teachers after their first year of teaching. Reasons often include not knowing how to manage a classroom, feeling frustrated and overworked, and not feeling supported by others in the school. Education is currently going through a difficult hiring time. First of all there are many retirements taking place. Secondly, there are very few teaching candidates for many of the teaching areas. As a result it is more important than ever to support and retain good first-year teachers. Because of this, the Columbus Public Schools are initiating a teacher induction program for the 2006-2007 school year.

This program will help teachers during those first three years when the learning curve is very steep. During these years they need to learn effective classroom practices, they need to master the district curriculum, and they need to understand the district culture and practices. This is a great deal for a new person to assimilate, especially when they are very busy staying one step ahead of the students they are helping to learn and mature. It’s a little bit like trying to read the owner’s manual while flying the space shuttle to the moon.

Some experts have advocated giving all teachers a year or two of apprenticeship under an experienced teacher before giving them full classroom responsibility. Unfortunately, like most businesses, a school system does not have the financial luxury to do this. Also, it would be unfair to expect new teachers to have such a waiting period without pay – especially as most are paying off significant college debt. In Columbus, we are formulating an induction program that we hope will be an effective alternative to this more ideal proposal.

Each new teacher in the 2006-2007 school year will be assigned an experienced mentor teacher. The mentors will be from the assigned sites of the new teachers, so they will be easily accessible should the new person need help or advice. The mentors and mentees will visit each others’ classrooms to observe and learn from one another. Mentees will also be allowed to visit master teachers throughout the district who are noted for their expertise in specific areas.

Principals will play a key role in this program as each of them will nurture their new teachers and regularly meet with them to conduct training on various aspects of teaching and help the new teachers problem-solve and reflect on their progress. The building principals believe it is essential that they be the induction coordinators for their sites.

A consultant from the University of Minnesota at Mankato will be helping principals by working with district officials this summer to put together a formalized three-year induction program. She will also be training identified mentors to prepare them to effectively support new teachers.
Following the first year’s intensive mentoring experience, second and third year teachers will be given basic training in areas the district thinks are critical to student success. These areas will include such topics as most effective teaching strategies, brain-based research, principles of effective classroom management, making improvements based on student data, best practices in working with struggling students and so forth.

The hope is this extra investment in our new hires will make them successful professionals and lead to long-term student gains. Each teacher the district hires is an important investment in our students’ futures. We are improving the odds that this investment pays dividends by supporting them with time and training during their first three years as teachers in the Columbus Public Schools.

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