A QUALITY TEACHER INDUCTION PROGRAM TO IMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

The study investigated how a teacher induction program increased the beginning teachers’ student achievement scores and teacher retention. The program components are discussed and include the concept of transformation as a beginning teacher transforms into a professional within a shorter period of time than research has reported in the past. The induction program was implemented in diverse K-12 school districts in the Southwest including inner city, suburban, rural, and Native American schools. Over a 9-year period, there were 148 schools within 18 districts. Professional development was provided for 203 mentors and 2,162 first and second year teachers, which impacted 163,808 students. The association with full time mentors extended professional development for all stakeholders. The commitment of the partner districts to implement the components of the teacher induction program resulted in success for the districts, the mentors, the beginning teachers, and the students. The questions that were addressed include: (a) Can the development of full-time mentors who employ a variety of formative practices and processes accelerate a beginning teachers’ practice for student success; (b) Does mentoring increase the beginning teachers’ student achievement scores on the state achievement test when compared with veteran teachers; and (c) Does mentoring increase the beginning teachers’ retention rate? A high school teacher walked out of the district office on a Monday afternoon with textbooks piled high in his arms. It is January; the sun shining in the southwest. He is new to the state and new to the teaching profession as the science teacher he is replacing left in December. His hometown is in Michigan where snow covers the doorsteps. He is looking forward to meeting his students for the second semester who are 86% Native American, 11% Latino, and 3% Caucasian. This novice science teacher is confident in his abilities, despite having no experience working with Native American or Latino students. On his way to the school, he sees the high desert backed by tall mountains. A herd of sheep grazed in the distance while an elderly man sits under a mesquite tree with his dog. What a different environment from his native Midwest. He wonders if he is prepared to teach these students. How will he begin to understand each of their cultures? How will he fit into the community? Will this teacher return for a second year of teaching in this environment? Will he stay in the teaching field but look for a different situation? Will he be successful wherever he accepts a teaching position? Teachers do not leave the profession due to lack of content knowledge but, rather, due to lack of support within the system. How can teachers be retained in this environment or any other existing across this nation? This is a perfect example of a beginning teacher which exemplifies the need for the support of a full-time mentor. The number of new teacher hires in public schools was 22% lower in 2011 than in 1999 (173,000 versus 222,000), and is projected to increase 32% between 2011 and 2023, to 227,000 (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). With this projected increase, novice teachers will need support in order to remain in the profession and meet this demand. Education in the United States accounts for 4% of the entire civilian workforce. Within the first 3 years, approximately 33% of teachers in the workforce leave the profession. Within 5 years, 50% leave. This is a significant number of individuals who are in transition either entering or leaving the profession (Ingersoll, 2007). However, a recent report (Haynes, 2014, pp. 2-3) stated that 13% of teachers nationwide moved or left the profession with high-poverty schools experiencing a 20% teacher turnover rate. Gray and Taie (2015, p. 3) conducted a longitudinal study and found among all beginning teachers in 2007-08, 10% did not teach in 2008-09, 12% did not teach in 2009-10, 15% did not teach in 2010-11, and 17% did not teach in 2011-12. Ingersoll (2007) asserts that school staffing problems are not a result of a deficit in the supply of teachers, but rather a result of the excess demand for teachers resulting from a “revolving door’ within the profession. Teachers face many difficulties, which lead to job dissatisfaction and may eventually cause them to leave the profession. The more problems a teacher encounters, the more likely one is to leave teaching. Large numbers of teachers depart their jobs for reasons other than retirement, specifically lack of administrative support, classroom management issues, and a lack of support and collegial interaction (Goldrick, 2016; Headden, 2014; Inger-soll, 2012; Ingersoll & Perda, 2006; National Commission on Teaching and American’s Future, 2007). Ingersoll, Merrill and Stuckey (2014) also state that the teaching force has changed in recent years. It has become far larger. It has simultaneously become both older and younger and far less experienced. It has simultaneously become less diverse, by gen-der, and more diverse, by race-ethnicity. It does not appear to be suffering from a decline in the academic ability of females entering teaching; indeed, the numbers of new teacher hires coming from the top-ranked colleges and universities has greatly increased. Finally, it has become less stable. (p. 27) Without a support system for new professionals, the education system and the children it serves are at risk. Teacher recruitment efforts will be unable to prevent the staffing problems if school systems do not deal with systemic sources of low teacher re-tention. Losing a teacher is expensive. The cost per lost teacher is between $4,366 for a small rural district in New Mexico to an average cost of nearly $18,000 for a large urban district such as Chicago (National Commission on Teaching and American’s Future, 2007). In 2014, Haynes reported the cost of attrition varies from state to state but estimates range nationally between $1 billion and $2.2 billion a year on teacher attrition. It is not enough to retain teachers; schools must develop and retain quality teachers. Research substantiates the crucial link between high levels of achievement and the quality of instruction (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004; Haynes, 2014; Ingersoll, 2007; Leana, 2010; Wang, Coleman, Coley, & Phelps, 2003). In 2004, Carey stated that the effect of a teacher’s instruction on student achievement accumulates over time. If a child has an ineffective teacher 3 years in a row, his chance of overcoming a deficit is low (Jordan, Mendro, & Weerasinghe, 1997; Sanders & Rivers, 1996; Tucker & Stronge, 2005). The challenge is to induct teachers in ways that rapidly promote high levels of practice and ensure that all students have effective teachers. Educators who enter the profession or experience a shift in practice that occurs as a result of a change in job expectations or reassignment undergo a tremendous professional transformation. Recent research suggests teachers’ careers actually consist of several parts, known as phases or stages, and collectively, as the career cycle (Berliner, 2000; Eros, 2011; Fessler & Christensen 1992; Steffy, Wolfe, Pasch, & Enz, 2000). Career cycle models differ in the number of stages, the criteria applied to the stage, the years of teach-ing, and or qualitative terms. Whichever model is used, there is enough research to recognize that teachers go through career cycles and transform their practice in the process. The question is how can the educational community assist teachers through this transformation? Transitional mentoring can make a difference. According to Moir and Gless (2001), new teachers who participate in systematic professional development through an organized program with fulltime mentors remain in the profession at a significantly higher rate than the teachers who do not. The report, Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years: Resultsfrom theFirst through Fifth Waves of the 2007-08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (Gray & Taie, 2015, p. 3), states in each follow-up year, the percentage of beginning teachers who were assigned a first-year mentor were more likely to continue to teach than those who were not assigned mentors. In 2008-2009, 92% of those who had a mentor were still teaching compared to 84% who did not have a mentor. By 2011-2012, 86% of those who had a mentor were still teaching compared to 71% who did not have a mentor. Horn, Lussier, Metler-Armijo, and Blair (2007) found that the retention rate of first year teachers in districts with full-time mentors increased. The same findings were confirmed in 2008 (Horn, Blair, & Metler-Armijo) and 2012 (Horn & Metler-Armijo). This type of support develops instructional proficiency at a faster rate. When an induction program provides specialized professional development to all beginning teachers, students ultimately benefit from having effective teachers who are competent in the classroom (Horn, 2015; Horn & Metler-Armijo, 2012). For teachers who are in collegial settings with their peers, experience tends to help those teachers improve throughout their careers (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Haynes, 2014; Leana, 2010). The key benefits of experience are that the teacher has time to: • Develop an increased depth of understanding about thecontent and how to teach it to students (Covino & Iwanicki,1996; McTighe & Seif, 2014). • Learn and use various strategies to meet students’needs (Durall, 1995; Glass, 2001; Ingersoll & Stronge,2011). • Learn how to maximize his or her usage ofinstructional materials, management of the classroom, and workingrelationships with others (Ingersoll, 2012; Reynolds,1992). • Incorporate reflective practice (Allen &Casbergue, 2000; Zeichner & Liston,2014). In the report, On the Path to Equity: Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers, Hanyes (2014) provides a remedy for retention and increased student success by providing an induction program that includes mentoring, collaboration and continual support from school leaders (p. 7). Providing a full-time mentor for the beginning teacher in a collegial setting allows that teacher the opportunity to gain these benefits in their first year of teaching. The 2 hours per week that the mentor spends with the beginning teacher in a collegial setting is congruent with Darling-Hammond’s (2000) beliefs about experience. Researchers have stated that it takes from 3 to 7 years in the field to become highly skilled as a teacher (Berliner, 2000; Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004). Does anyone have 3 to 7 years for teachers to excel in their practice and impact student success? The purpose of this study was to compare beginning teachers’ student achievement scores with veteran teachers at the same school on a state achievement test. Teacher retention was also compared from 1 year without an induction program to the next year with an induction program.