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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2001

News Release

NEA- Saturn-UAW Honor Innovative Partnerships To Improve Teacher Quality

Washington, D.C. - What's the number one problem new teachers face? While salaries are a big issue, the fact is that new teachers cite "lack of support" as their number one concern. As the teacher shortage worsens, the problem for school districts is increasingly one of retention - not recruitment. School districts are struggling with high turnover rates, as teachers flee the profession, in large part due to the lack of assistance on the job.

To address this challenge and to guarantee a quality teacher in every classroom, teachers' associations and school districts around the country are making some changes. Six shining examples of collaboration between local education associations and management to boost teacher quality are the winners of the fifth annual NEA-Saturn/UAW Partnership Awards -presented jointly by the National Education Association (NEA), the Saturn Corporation and the United Auto Workers (UAW). The award recognizes effective partnerships between teacher unions and local school districts which parallel the success achieved by labor and management in the automobile industry. This year's award program focused exclusively on union-management collaborations to mentor and support new teachers.

"Far too many of the nation's beginning teachers choose to leave the profession within the first few years," said National Education Association President Bob Chase. "The six partnerships selected to receive the 2001 NEA-Saturn/UAW Award offer excellent models about what is needed to help educators survive and thrive in the classroom. We hope communities across America will look to these collaborations for answers about what it will take to recruit and retain the quality teachers that America's public schoolchildren need -and deserve."

This year's recipients are from Cherry Creek, CO; Elgin, IL; Shawnee, KS; Brunswick, OH; Walla Walla, WA, and Menomonee Falls, WI. They will be honored by the NEA, UAW and Saturn on June 30 in Los Angeles, during the NEA's Bargaining and Instructional Issues conference, held just before the NEA's annual Representative Assembly.

The 2001 NEA-Saturn/UAW Partnership Award winners are:

Cherry Creek, Colorado, where the Cherry Creek Education Association and the Cherry Creek School District No. 5-sponsored S.T.A.R. (staff training, assistance and renewal) Mentoring Program has helped boost the retention rate of new teachers by 22% percent since its inception five years ago. S.T.A.R. was born out of negotiations when veteran teachers, recognizing the importance of recruiting and retaining new teachers, gave up their sabbatical leave program so the funding could be used to support a peer assistance program. The S.T.A.R. program assigns mentors to beginning teachers throughout their first year, and mentors, on full-time release, serve a three-year term. Each mentor is assigned an average of 15 new teachers, and meets with the beginners and observes their classroom techniques at least once a week. Veteran teachers are also provided additional support through S.T.A.R. Retention rates for first-year teachers in Cherry Creek District 5 have increased from less than 70% in the program's first year to 91% in the 1999-2000 school year.

Elgin, Illinois, where a mentoring program in the state's second largest school district, developed by the Elgin Teachers Association and the School District U-46 Administration is credited with improving teaching performance and enhancing teacher retention. Both groups believed that teachers in their first and second year should be given the best possible opportunities for success and professional growth and they wanted to establish a corps of high caliber teachers in the district. Two hundred and twenty-seven mentors and new teachers signed on initially, with each beginning teacher matched with a veteran teacher for his or her first two years. Today, 618 teachers are working collaboratively to improve student learning. After the first year of the mentoring program, the district saw close to a 90% retention rate among new teachers.

Overland Park, Kansas, where the Blue Valley NEA, the Blue Valley School District, and the University of Kansas have created the Alliance for Educational Excellence to provide a strong support system for new and veteran teachers to improve professional development and to help them stay in the classroom. Mentor teachers are matched to beginning teachers by subject matter and grade level, providing support, advocacy and orientation. Peer assistants, also part of the Alliance, are master teachers on release from their classrooms for three years. Each is assigned about 25 new teachers to mentor by providing instructional support and classroom management advice. Seven of 55 new teachers left the school system during the year before the mentoring program began, for reasons of performance. In 1999-2000 - the first year of the program - every one of the 74 new teachers successfully completed his or her first year and opted to remain teaching in the district.

Brunswick, Ohio, where an Entry Year/Peer Assistance Program developed jointly by the Brunswick Education Association and Brunswick City Schools is helping the district's large number of first-year teachers be successful. Full-time mentors serve as consulting teachers to entry-year educators, meeting with them up to 45 times a year. Mentors provide coaching, mentoring and support, which can include model teaching, conferencing, resource gathering, and even serve as substitute teachers on occasion to allow new teachers to observe their peers. Mentors report to a Peer Assistance and Review Panel three times a year on the progress of the teachers with whom they work. The panel many also recommend a teacher receive an additional year of mentoring. In the last three years, Brunswick has hired 179 new teachers. Today, 175 of them are still teaching successfully in the district. The program is also hailed as a recruitment tool, as first-year teachers report that they chose the Brunswick School District over others that offer higher pay because of the support provided to those entering the classroom.

Walla Walla, Washington, where the Walla Walla Valley Education Association has worked with the school district on a teacher mentor program for more than 10 years. The local education association president, mentor coordinator and an assistant superintendent work together to determine which veteran staff members are paired with which new teachers. While peer coaching is the program's backbone, mentor teachers are also schooled in orienting new teachers to the curriculum, materials and assessment. Mentors meet with the beginners each day to troubleshoot and provide guidance. Support is provided in the second year on a targeted basis. While the national average of teachers who remain in the profession after the first five years is 70%, Walla Walla boasts a 90% retention rate for the first five years their program has been district-wide.

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where a mentoring program developed by the Menomonee Falls Education Association and the school district is creating a life-long learning community. Originally begun ten years ago, the program was overhauled in 1999 to more effectively serve the needs of new teachers. Professional mentors, who serve for a year, are now certified through a district-sponsored graduate course before being selected as mentors by their principals. The Cardinal Stritch University, a partner in this endeavor, works with potential mentors to help develop their skills in understanding the needs of new teachers and assisting them with helping their new colleagues with effective teaching strategies. Nearly 80 professional mentors are now working with new teachers, and in the last school year, 34 of 35 first-year teachers were retained. Mentors and the new teachers say the program works. New teachers report a better understanding of district teaching standards and instructional practices, and mentors say the program has resulted in improved student learning.

For more information about the program and past winners, check the NEA web site, www.nea.org. or contact the UAW/Saturn Partnership Office at 1-800-738-1817.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.