Alternate Ways To Structure Teacher Induction

School Administrator, Dec, 1995 by Gregory M. Clardi

Like medicine, architecture, and engineering the teaching profession is coming to realize that pre-service training prepares new-cowers to the profession only for novice practice. Teachers just out of college should not be expected to shoulder all the responsibilities of 20-year veterans.

Rather than assigning new teachers to independent classrooms, some school districts across the country are experimenting by offering new teachers structured assistance. In addition, nine states now require some kind of internship as a prerequisite for certification, an important development.

Despite the general rhetorical agreement about the worth of these programs, the costs associated with providing structured support for new teachers stretch already tight budgets.

Sundry Approaches

In some models, new teachers are assigned lighter teaching loads to allow time for planning and reflection with mentors. In others, mentors are released from classroom duties on a full- or part-time basis to present model lessons, observe and assist in the novice's classroom, or meet with novice teachers during planning periods. Sometimes, mentors are offered stipends for these duties.

In some induction models, staff development activities, such as after-school workshops or university-affiliated seminars, assist the new teachers in developing their classroom competencies. In other programs, universities offer a sequence of courses leading to the master's degree.

All these interventions cost money. Lighter loads for novices or mentors mean higher salary costs for replacement teachers. Staff development activities carry stipends for workshop leaders or outside consultants. Master's programs require tuition.

Support programs for new teachers compete for local resources already stretched thin by all the other worthy efforts to improve schools. Here are some funding methods that may not be immediately obvious.

* Salary differentials. In most school districts when new teachers replace those who are retiring, a salary differential of at least $20,000 exists between the salary of the veteran and his or her replacement. One simple way to fund a support program for the new teacher is to keep some of that money in the personnel budget and not to divert all of it to other functions or tax relief.

* Class-size adjustments. The conventional wisdom is that smaller classes are better for students than larger classes and most teachers and parents prefer schools to maintain classes as small as the budget will allow. Research supports the practice of creating classes smaller than 15 students and avoiding classes larger than 30.

Within those parameters, however, the impact of class size on student achievement is less certain. Students in slightly larger classes with supported novices may be better off than students in smaller classes with rookie teachers receiving little or no mentoring assistance.

* Rapid professional growth. A school with a quality mentoring program may be able to fill vacancies with first- year teachers rather than teachers with two or three years of experience. Some research suggests that a mentored novice teacher gains the competence in one year that it takes an unsupported teacher three years to master. Salary differentials between first- and third-year teachers might fund the costs of the program.

* Stemming personnel losses. A less-obvious cost of not providing formal support for new teachers is in the high dropout rate among new teachers. In some districts between 30 and 50 percent of new teachers resign within five years. The costs associated with advertising these positions and recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and orienting the replacements could be high. If mentoring programs reduce the loss rate of new teachers, the money saved could help to fund the support program.

* External funding. Finally, school leaders might turn to local business or foundations to endow a chair at each school, much like those now provided at universities. These chairs could provide the salaries or a least supplemental support for ex ert, veteran teachers serving as me mentors. These chairs would carry status and recognition and provide som of the best teachers a way to advance e in the profession without leaving teaching for an administrative position.

Certainly other ways exist to fund professional development schools, mentor positions, and induction experiences for new teachers As we recognize the need to provide high-quality induction experience for new teachers as an integral part of school improvement efforts, we need t support our belief with sufficient funding.

Greg Ciardi is a former superintendent in two Massachusetts school districts. [Teachers.sup.21] is a non-profit educational consulting firm.