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A Review of LiteratureOn Beginning Teacher Induction

Elizabeth Whisnant, Kim Elliott, and Susan Pynchon

Prepared for the Center for Strengthening the Teaching ProfessionJuly 2005

NAPSHOT OF

URRENT

ONTEXT

Research shows that a highly qualified teacher workforce—composed of skilled,knowledgeable, culturally astute, and compassionate beginning

and veteran educators—is the single greatest leverage point for assuring that all students achieve at their highestlevel (Berry, 2004; National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 1996).Indeed, the authors of

What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future

(1996), thereport of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, assert that, “Acaring, competent, and qualified teacher for every child is

the

most important ingredientin education reform” (p. vi).Unfortunately, not every teacher has the tools they need to help children excel inthe classroom and to implement systemic reforms. Studies of beginning teachers from avariety of both traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs show that manynew teachers do not feel adequately prepared to meet the challenges they face when theyfirst begin teaching in their own classrooms (Berry, 2004; Public Education Network,2003). Further, new and veteran teachers alike are being swept up by rapidly movingcurrents of change—in what they are expected to know and be able to do in the

Research suggests that the traditional definition of beginning teachers—novice educators who have recently completedteacher preparation programs—needs to be broadened to include mid-career entrants who may have pursued alternateor no routes of certification en route to their classroom and first career entrants who intend to teach for a few yearsbefore pursuing their “real” careers (Johnson, 2005).

2classroom, in national education policies, and in the population of students they serve—that bring new pressures to bear on an already stressed workforce.New challenges, including pressures for standards-based teaching required by NoChild Left Behind

and the increased multicultural composition of the student population,are requiring teachers to continually master new competencies and refine their practice tomeet students’ needs. At the same time, teachers continue to experience lower rates of jobsatisfaction caused by many factors, including “a general lack of public support forteaching as a profession,” (Zeichner, 2003, p. 494), poor working conditions, and lowsalaries. Consequently, our nation’s schools suffer from high rates and costs of teacherattrition and turnover

—especially among new teachers and those in high-poverty schools(Johnson, Berg, & Donaldson, 2005). Exacerbating this staffing crisis is the fact that alarge population of teachers is nearing retirement age, and in the decades to come it willbe critical to attract, support, and retain an equally large or larger influx of new teachersto meet the growth of the school-age population.Across the United States, school and district leaders are beginning to recognizethe critical importance of providing sustained and purposeful professional support toteachers, including—and perhaps especially—those in the beginning years of theirprofession, as a means of maintaining a strong, stable workforce and improvingmeasurable outcomes for student learning (Berry, 2004; Johnson et al., 2005). However,as many as fifty percent of beginning teachers do not participate in induction programsbeyond a one-time orientation and only 1% of the new teacher workforce participates in

The No Child Left Behind legislation requires a “highly qualified teacher” in every classroom in theUnited States by the end of the 2005–2006 school year.

Johnson et al. (2005) suggest the following use of language when discussing teacher “attrition” and“turnover.” When teachers leave the teaching profession altogether, it is referred to as “attrition,” whereaswhen teachers leave their jobs in schools and move from one school to another, it is called “turnover.”

3the kind of comprehensive program recommended by researchers (Alliance for ExcellentEducation, 2004; Johnson et al., 2005). Further, there can be a gap between programs’articulated intentions and actual outcomes. Found in the literature of beginning teacherinduction efforts are acknowledgements that not all induction programs work well orperhaps as intended. Surveys of, and interviews with, beginning teachers frequently citethe misalignment of intended and actual support (a recognized but missed potential forsupport) or raise issues of relevance (Fideler & Haselkorn, 1999; PEN, 2001).

DDRESSING THE

EEDS OF

EACHERS IN THE

ENTURY

This review of teacher induction

literature is designed to summarize current research onthe practices, policies, and programs intentionally developed to support novice teachers.The literature is both significant and significantly recent—many of the studies describedherein were conducted during the last two decades.Studies provide clear evidence of the rising number of beginning inductionprograms under development at state and district levels. While researchers have amasseda large and growing body of qualitative reporting about the rationale for, impact of, andfeatures of such programs, only a smaller number of quantitative studies exist.Accordingly, several researchers present cautionary arguments, citing that the lack of empirical, quantitative data and the interdependent nature of “effective practices” inschools, leave conclusive, data-rich analysis of the impact of mentoring and/or teacherinduction currently beyond reach (Feiman-Nemser, 1996; Ingersoll & Kralik, 2004;Lopez et al., 2004).

Key words include induction, new teacher support, mentoring, and orientation.