New Teacher Induction: Oregon
Retaining Effective Teachers Policy
Analysis of Oregon's policies
Oregon does not require mentoring for all new teachers. However, districts can elect to participate in the state's beginning teacher mentorship program. Districts that implement the program must adhere to the following guidelines: Mentors must posses a teaching license, have at least five years of experience and participate in training programs. Mentorship programs include "direct observation and consultation, assistance in instructional planning and preparation, support in implementation and delivery of classroom instruction, development of school leadership skills, and other assistance intended to assist the beginning teacher."
Recommendations for Oregon
Ensure that a high-quality mentoring experience is available to all new teachers, especially those in low-performing schools.
Oregon should ensure that all new teachers—especially teachers in low-performing schools—receive mentoring support, particularly in the first critical weeks of school.
Set more specific parameters.
To ensure that all teachers receive high-quality mentoring, the state should set a timeline in which mentors are assigned to all new teachers throughout the state, soon after the commencing of teaching, to offer support during those first critical weeks of school. Mentors should be required to be trained in a content area or grade level similar to that of the new teacher, and the state should require program evaluation.
Select high-quality mentors.
Oregon should establish criteria for the selection of high-quality mentors. It is particularly important that the mentors themselves are effective teachers. Teachers
without evidence of effectiveness should not serve as
mentors.
Require induction strategies that can be successfully implemented, even in poorly managed schools.
To ensure that the experience is meaningful, Oregon should make certain that induction includes strategies such as intensive mentoring, seminars appropriate to grade level or subject area, and a reduced teaching load and/or frequent release time to observe other teachers.
State response to our analysis
Oregon recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that Oregon Mentoring Program Standards, adopted by the state board in 2015, are used as criteria to fund mentoring programs and include requirements for mentor selection. Oregon asserted that the state's goal is to provide mentoring for all beginning teachers. Though Oregon has not reached that goal yet, the state indicated that funding has been increased in the past two biennia from $5M to $10M to provide mentoring for more teachers.
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Too many new teachers
are left to "sink or swim" when they begin teaching.
Most new teachers are overwhelmed and undersupported at the
outset of their teaching careers. Although differences in preparation programs
and routes to the classroom do affect readiness, even teachers from the most
rigorous programs need support once they take on the myriad responsibilities of
their own classroom. A survival-of-the-fittest mentality prevails in many
schools; figuring out how to successfully negotiate unfamiliar curricula,
discipline and management issues and labyrinthine school and district
procedures is considered a rite of passage. However, new teacher frustrations
are not limited to low performers. Many talented new teachers become
disillusioned early by the lack of support they receive, and it may be the most
talented who will more likely explore other career options.
Vague requirements
simply to provide mentoring are insufficient.
Although many states recognize the need to provide mentoring
to new teachers, state policies merely indicating that mentoring should occur
will not ensure that districts provide new teachers with quality mentoring
experiences. While allowing flexibility for districts to develop and implement
programs in line with local priorities and resources, states also should
articulate the minimum requirements for these programs in terms of the
frequency and duration of mentoring and the qualifications of those serving as
mentors.
New teachers in
high-need schools particularly need quality mentoring.
Retaining effective teachers in high-need schools is
especially challenging. States should ensure that districts place special
emphasis on mentoring programs in these schools, particularly when limited
resources may prevent the district from providing mentoring to all new
teachers.
Induction: Supporting Research
Although
many states have induction policies, the overall support for new teachers in
the United States is fragmented due to wide variation in legislation, policy
and type of support available. There are a number of good sources describing
the more systematic induction models used in high-performing countries:
Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers – Final Report: Teachers Matter, a 2005 publication by the OECD, examines
(among many other factors) the role that induction plays for developing the
quality of the teaching force in 25 countries. For shorter synopses, consult
Lynn Olson, "Teaching Policy to Improve Student Learning: Lessons from
Abroad," 2007. http://www.edweek.org/media/aspen_viewpoint.pdf
Educational
Testing Service's Preparing Teachers Around the World (2003)
examines reasons why seven countries perform better than the United States on
the TIMSS and includes induction models in its analysis.
Domestically,
evidence of the impact of teacher induction in improving the retention and
performance of first-year teachers is growing. See Impacts of Comprehensive Teacher Induction: Results from the Second Year of a Randomized Controlled Study. National Center for Educational
Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education, NCEE 2009-4072, August 2009.
A
California study found that a good induction program, including mentoring, was
generally more effective in keeping teachers on the job than better pay. See
D. Reed, K. Rueben, and E. Barbour, "Retention of New Teachers in California,"
Public Policy Institute of California, 2006.
Descriptive
qualitative papers provide some information on the nature of mentoring and
other induction activities and may improve understanding of the causal
mechanisms by which induction may lead to improved teacher practices and better
retention. A report from the Alliance for Excellent Education presents four
case studies on induction models that it found to be effective. See Tapping the Potential: Retaining and Developing
High-Quality New Teachers, Alliance for Excellent Education at: http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/TappingThePotential.pdf.
For evidence of the importance of high
quality mentors, see C. Carver and S. Feiman-Nemser, "Using Policy to Improve Teacher Induction: Critical Elements and Missing Pieces." Educational
Policy, Volume 23, No. 2, March 2009, pp. 295-328 as well as K. Jackson and E. Bruegmann in "Teaching Students and Teaching Each Other: The Importance of Peer Learning for Teachers." American
Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 1, No. 4, October 2009, pp. 85-108. See also H. Wong, "Induction Programs that Keep New Teachers Teaching and Improving," NASSP Bulletin, Volume 88, No. 638, March 2004, pp. 44-58.
For
a further review of the research on new teacher induction see M. Rogers, A. Lopez, A. Lash, M. Schaffner, P. Shields, and M. Wagner,
"Review of Research on the Impact of Beginning Teacher Induction on Teacher Quality and Retention," ED Contract ED-01-CO-0059/0004, SRI Project P14173, SRI International,
2004.
The
issue of high turnover in teachers' early years particularly plagues schools
that serve poor children and children of color. Much of the focus of concern
about this issue has been on urban schools, but rural schools that serve poor
communities also suffer from high turnover of new teachers.
Research
on the uneven distribution of teachers (in terms of teacher quality) suggests
that, indeed, a good portion of the so-called "achievement gap" may
be attributable to what might be thought of as a "teaching gap,"
reported by many including L. Feng and T. Sass, "Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility," Calder Institute, Working Paper 57, January 2011; T. Sass, J. Hannaway, Z. Xu,
D. Figlio, and L. Feng, "Value Added of Teachers in High-Poverty Schools and
Lower-Poverty Schools," Calder Institute, Working Paper 52,
November 2010; and C. Clotfelter, H. Ladd, and J. Vigdor, "Who Teaches Whom? Race and Distribution of Novice Teachers," Economics of Education Review, Volume 24, 2005, pp. 377-392.
See
also B. White, J. Presley, and K. DeAngelis, "Leveling Up: Narrowing the Teacher Academic Capital Gap in Illinois," Illinois Education Research Council, Policy Research Report: IERC 2008-1, 44 p.