CONTACT: Staci Maiers   (202) 822-7823

June 30, 2006

NEA, UAW, SATURN: The Drive to Retain Good Teachers

Honoring a decade of innovative programs in teacher retention

ORLANDO—How do we attract and retain good teachers?

The 10th annual NEA-Saturn/UAW Partnership Awards were presented last night as part of pre-convention activities for the National Education Association's Annual Meeting.  To demonstrate a good teacher is behind the wheel of every good classroom, the Saturn Corporation, the United Auto Workers, and NEA recognized six local education associations and school districts for collaborative approaches in mentoring new teachers and reducing new teacher turnover.

"Sadly, the teacher's apple—the familiar symbol of the education profession—is rapidly turning into an apple turnover: teacher turnover," said NEA President Reg Weaver.  "Good teachers need the opportunity—and encouragement—to pursue teaching as a career.  The NEA-Saturn/UAW Partnership Awards are a prime example of how collaborative efforts among schools, businesses and communities provide unique programs that foster teacher retention."

On National Teacher Day in May, NEA discussed the alarming trend that almost 50 percent of new teachers exit the profession within the first five years.  One of the reasons often cited is a lack of on-the-job support.  To stop this revolving classroom door, these partnerships have developed award winning efforts to assist new teachers in their careers.

The 2006 winning partnerships are in the following communities, listed in alphabetical order:

Broward County, Fla.—In collaboration with the Broward Teachers Union, the School Board of Broward County—the nation’s sixth largest school district—commits over $4 million annually to the New Educator Support System (NESS) to provide new educators with a highly effective induction program that retains new educators at a much higher rate than the state average.  Voluntarily, virtually 100 percent of all new educators choose to participate. NESS includes a jointly sponsored and funded New Teacher Orientation; a paid, five-day New Teacher Academy; intense site-based coaching and mentoring support; and ongoing staff development opportunities. 
 
Nashville, Tenn.—Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association work together in overseeing the Peer Assistance Leadership Support teacher induction program, providing full-time teacher mentors who serve up to three years at their regular teacher salary and offer a year of individualized attention for up to 80 new teachers from closely clustered schools. Mentors receive summer training at Vanderbilt University, technological support, plus training in Web page design to support their work.

Lake Washington, Wash.—The Lake Washington Education Association and Lake Washington School District No. 414 joined forces to create the New Teacher Support Program, with six full-time consulting teachers serving in a confidential role to provide professional and emotional support to beginning teachers. The program provides a comprehensive five-day paid induction in August, new teacher workshops, classroom visitations, curriculum planning sessions and professional evaluation training. 

Appleton, Wisc.—Appleton's Teacher Induction Program, a joint cooperation between the Appleton Education Association and the Appleton Area School District, provides three years of structured support for new teachers by pairing them with trained mentors with similar teaching experiences.  The program contains three main components: an orientation to welcome new teachers to the district; a seminar series on the Wisconsin teacher standards; and ongoing instructional and management support to initial educators. Mentors are trained and provided with a sliding three-year stipend that matches the decreasing intensity of support from year one to year three.

Stoughton, Wisc.—Four years ago, the Wisconsin New Teacher Project sponsored a Foundations in Mentoring workshop. The result was a program with teacher orientation and ongoing professional development throughout the school year. Mentors meet weekly with teaching novices and sit in on two classroom settings each month. A district steering committee meets twice a year to assess how things are going and to suggest how to make any improvements. According to research feedback, new teachers have found the mentoring to be useful in their development during the first year of teaching.
 
Waunakee, Wisc.—A group effort between the Waunakee Teachers Association and the Waunakee Community School District, the Waunakee New Teacher Program provides a New Teacher Advisor mentor in each building—plus two carefully trained resource mentors—who are retired teachers working with all first- and second-year teachers in their classrooms.  New teachers receive four days of orientation and additional district professional development. All mentors receive ongoing standards-based professional development and are compensated per negotiated contract language.

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 2.8 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.