Mindful of the current difficulty and challenge in retaining new teachers, particularly in urban schools, this study examines data from a 1997 qualitative investigation of 6 Black sixth-year teachers in 2 Midwestern urban school districts regarding their views of their alternate route preparation program in order to identify features of effective…

We report on a series of pilot programs that we developed and carried out to support the success and satisfaction of new faculty, particularly faculty of color. We hope that others committed to retaining and supporting underrepresented faculty can apply our learning from this pilot project, as a whole or in part.

This article, the last in a series described in the MEJ Mentoring Series sidebar, highlights what researchers have uncovered about induction programs for beginning music teachers. It provides suggestions for mentors who are assisting beginning music teachers in their decisions about professional development and in handling some of the challenges…

Induction has become an increasingly popular strategy for school districts across the country that seek solutions for high attrition rates among teachers who are new to the profession. In Illinois public schools, the attrition rate among new teachers can be as high as 40 percent after only five years on the job. Such turnover levels are costly for…

Across America, school districts face a problem of numbers: too many students, too few educators. In some areas, the shortage of classroom teachers is approaching crisis proportions. One solution designed to address the recruitment side of the problem is found in the creation of Non-University Certification Programs (NUCPs). The designs and…

The Academy for Educational Development (AED) sent a research team to Jackson State University (JSU) on October 13-14, 2008 to conduct interviews with individuals who play important roles in the university's teacher preparation program (see Appendix A). These interviews, along with additional documentation provided by JSU and identified by the AED…

The Mentor Teacher Internship Program (MTIP), a program designed to pair experienced mentor teachers with newly hired uncertified teachers, was evaluated for 1993-94. The purpose of the program is to provide non-evaluative and confidential collegial support for the interns, enabling them to develop effective teaching methods and encouraging them…

This publication reports on a study designed to discover the nature and extent of staff induction and initial training available to new members of academic staff in Scottish higher education institutions, and to measure how a sample of these new staff perceived the training they had received and what other training needs, if any, they had. The…

There has been an increasing commitment to the notion of collaboration among professionals who have a responsibility for a client. However, the need for psychological services still seems to receive little impetus from teacher and principal requests. Furthermore, the teacher continues to operate as an isolated professional. Preservice education…

Finding ways to improve the assessment of beginning teachers is part of an effort to assure that fully certified teachers possess the professional knowledge and skills necessary for competence in contemporary classrooms. Research done by the California New Teacher Project (CNTP) suggests that some knowledge and skills cannot be fully learned in…

This handbook was developed for persons in Virginia without formal teacher training who are teaching a laboratory course in trade and industrial education for the first time. The guide covers some of the issues that a beginning teacher must address in the first few weeks of school. The document also provides background information for the…

In the fall of 1991, the Master of Arts in Teaching program of The School for International Training, Brattleboro, Vermont, created a position to mentor newly arrived, full time adjunct faculty in their adjustment to a nontraditional program that operates as a community and provides experiential learning. This paper describes a group of five…

This introductory-level training program is designed to develop in classroom teachers the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for functioning as successful mentors to novice North Carolina teachers. This includes background and perspectives for mentoring in North Carolina; Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC)…

This report presents the results of three studies on beginning teacher needs and support. The first study investigated what one beginning teacher and her mentor talked about in scheduled talk sessions. Audiotapes of the talk sessions and interviews with the teacher and her mentor uncovered how the beginning teacher perceived teaching and herself…

This book presents a guide for setting up a new teacher mentoring program. Chapter 1, "Relating," stresses the important part a relationship plays in the mentoring process. A set of introspective exercises teaches ways to establish trust and pay attention to nonverbal communication. Chapter 2, "Assessing," provides ways to gather and diagnose data…