How To Establish a New Teacher Support Program

Want to start your own new teacher support system? Try following this 12-step guide.

1. Get people involved — Identify constituencies you think should be represented in the development process and establish a new teacher support task force or oversight committee. In collaboration with the school district, the committee should seek information about setting up a new teacher support system. The group will then facilitate and coordinate support for new teachers.

2. Survey your members — Determine if there is support for establishing a new teacher support system.

3. Educate yourselves — Learn about other new teacher support programs and, if possible, visit with the local Associations involved to get more information.

4. Contact your NEA state affiliate — Alert your UniServ director and state Association. They can help you with additional resources, advice, speakers, and more contact information.

5. Collect data — Familiarize yourself with information about your district, school, and community. Answer the questions posed.

6. Identify possible constraints — Analyze data collected to identify possible constraints.

7. Design your program — Based on the specific needs in your district, identify the desired outcomes of your program. Clarify your goals by asking yourself what the purpose of mentoring is, conductives needed for successful mentoring, and what the results of the mentoring program will be.

8. Clarify the role and duties of the mentor teacher — Check out Creating a Teacher Mentoring Program, from the foundation created by NEA, the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education at Internet at www.nfie.org or by calling (202) 822-7840.

• What do mentors have to do to accomplish our program's purpose?
• How much time will they need to do this?
• What are we looking for in our mentors?
• How and who will we select our mentors? Will mentors be trained?
• What incentives will we offer mentors? Will they be compensated? How will we support them in their duties?
• Will mentors be trained?
• How will mentors be matched with new teachers?

9. Develop and negotiate contract language — Study issues such as:

• The role and purpose of the oversight committee.
• The purpose, description, and characteristics of your program.
• Selection, role, function, professional development released time, compensation, and tenure of the mentor teacher and the number of new teachers assigned a mentor teacher.
• Reduced workload for new teachers, time to meet with mentors, and time to observe other selected staff working with students.
• Additional compensation for mentor teachers.
• Op-out clause without discrimination.
• A system to assess the effectiveness of the program.

10. Implement a mentor training program — In collaboration with your district, create and deliver a training program for mentor teachers, the oversight committee, and Association building representatives. See sample training agendas.

11. Get in touch with your new teachers — Host a new teacher orientation to the new teacher support system and introduce them to your district and community. Alert new teachers to the following resources:

• NEA state affiliate new teachers materials.
• Copies of significant school district documents such as your contract, leave agreement, field trip policy, teacher evaluation policy, grading policy, requirements for re-licensing and tenure, professional development requirements, class size standards, procedures and calendar for administering standardized tests, procedure for securing and using substitute teachers, and handbook of school district resources.

12. Think towards the future — Working with your school district, plan a series of events for new teachers and their mentors throughout the year. Conduct periodic and annual reviews of your program. Share the results with your local university and work as a partner in better preparing education students to enter the teaching profession.

Key Questions To Consider Before You Begin

There is no one program design that meets the needs of every district in every situation. Districts with large numbers of new hires or those experiencing recruitment difficulties may wish to structure their new teacher support systems differently than districts where large-scale turnover is less of an issue.

The following questions will help identify the needs, issues, and concerns of your district, community, and school. Design a new teacher support program based on your answers to:

• What is our current new teacher retention rate? Look at data from the last three to five years to assess how many new teachers are leaving your school or district.
• How are new teachers assigned to classrooms? Are new teachers qualified to teach their assigned classrooms?
• How many teachers are teaching out of their field? How many have "emergency" certification?
• Are new teachers given adjunct duties on top of their teaching assignments?
• Is there a new teacher orientation before school starts? What kind of support are new teachers given throughout the school year?
• Are new teachers given district guidelines, procedures, student standards, and expectations?
• Are resources given to help new teachers with student discipline and classroom management?
• Are teachers given time to collaborate? If not, why?
• How do veterans and new teachers relate? Are veterans responsive to new teacher ideas, concerns, and first year experiences?
• How can the district culture support or undermine a new teacher support system?
• Where will funding and other resources come from — the district or grants?
• What is the perception of the district in the community? Are parents involved in their children's education?
• Is technology available (access to E-mail, online forums, electronic bulletin boards) to support new teacher communication?

The New Teacher Support Oversight Committee: Role and Function

Every good new teacher support program has a committee that "oversees" design, function, programs, and evaluation. An oversight committee ensures adequate resources for the program and provides it with credibility and purpose.

In places where new teacher support programs are thriving, the oversight committee meets to plan, problem-solve, debrief, suggest improvements, and evaluate the program. Ideally, the committee is half teachers selected by the local education association and half administrators selected by the school district.

The committee administers the program, selects mentor teachers, oversees professional development, secures necessary resources, and more.

Ten Tips for Connecting with Your New Teachers

Even if you're not yet ready to establish a formal new teacher support program in your district, you can — and should — connect with your new teachers. The suggestions below can be implemented on a quick turnaround basis — yet their impact will be very long-term.

By filling this need, the Association becomes appealing to new teachers. And by reaching out to new teachers when they are new to the profession, our Association will benefit for many years to come.

1. Use technology — E-mail, online forums, and electronic bulletin boards for new teachers are easy, inexpensive ways for inductees to share ideas, concerns, and encouragement with each other. They can also be used to communicate with mentors, program directors, and university faculty. Check out Missouri NEA's Beginning Teacher Listserv at www.mo.nea.org.

2. Take new teachers on a tour of the district — Before the start of the school year, take new teachers on a tour of your district on school buses. Offer informational sessions on insurance and payroll, membership benefits, classroom management, and the first day of school.

3. Offer professional development training just for new teachers — Host workshops for new teachers on certification, state student standards, and professional development requirements. Consider hosting a Making the Most of a Starting Salary: Financial Planning for Beginners course. Provide new teachers with personal balance sheets, a sample spending and goal chart, investing, tips and retirement advice. Remind teachers of the Association's professional resources.

4. Give new teachers good resource materials — Alert new teachers to state affiliate handbooks for beginning teachers, the NEA Web for new leaders, and other resources at a new teacher orientation.

5. Offer grants to new teachers — Help new teachers obtain their Master's degrees with small tuition grants. See the Missouri NEA Web site for more information: www.mo.nea.org/begtch/grants.html.

6. Sponsor monthly seminars — Encourage new and veteran teachers to discuss issues like assessment or personal health maintenance at monthly seminars. Invite teachers to make presentations and answer questions. Veterans can share their experiences with new teachers.

7. Host an "Idea Exchange" — Once or twice a year host an "idea exchange" meeting where teachers can share information about projects they are working on or challenges they are encountering. Open up the floor for ideas to help new teachers feel comfortable in both offering ideas and asking for help.

8. Sponsor a new teacher "Rookie Club" — Create a "Rookie Club" or new teacher caucus where moral support, resources, and curriculum ideas can be exchanged. An informal peer network allows new teachers to struggle together with common fears and frustrations. Provide refreshments and Association giveaways.

9. Sponsor an Online "Help Me" service for new teachers — Establish an E-mail address where new teachers can request help or advice inside or outside the classroom. Respond on a timely basis, so new teachers get their answers by the next business day.

10. Provide new teachers with a "New Teacher Guide" — Create a "New Teacher Guide" to answer questions about each school, its staff, instructional material and supplies, and planning. Address how copies are made, how to get a substitute, and how to get instructional materials.

Just the Facts: Why We Need To Help New Teachers Succeed

• By the end of this decade, the US will need 2 million new teachers.
• Currently, more than half of new teachers leave the profession in their first five years.
• New teachers who participate in induction programs are nearly twice as likely to stay in the profession as those who don't.
• Research proves that a critical predictor of student success is teacher quality.

What discourages new teachers?

• Discipline problems
• Unending paperwork
• Unmotivated students
• Public and student disrespect for teachers and learning
• Lack of instructional material
• Late hiring
• Changes in their teaching assignment
• Placement in a field outside their certification
• Lack of familiarity with the types of students they are teaching
• Low pay
• Unsafe schools
• Bureaucratic "red-tape"

Statistics from "Beginning Now: Resources for Organizers of Beginning Teachers, 1999"

Who are the new teachers?

• Almost two-thirds are younger than 27.
• More than a quarter are not fully certified.
• Nearly half — 42 percent — have just finished college and have never taught.
• 34 percent are former teachers who are coming back to the profession.
• The majority are single and in debt.

Statistics from "Beginning Now . . . Resources for Organizers of Beginning Teachers, 1999"

What are new teachers concerned about?

• Getting information about the Association
• Instructional issues
• Preparation time
• Unmotivated students
• Their own evaluations
• Classroom control, management and discipline
• Students with special learning challenges
• Finding resources
• Involving parents
• Time management
• Dealing with physical and emotional stress

From "Beginning Now: Resources for Organizers of Beginning Teachers, 1999"

What will help new teachers succeed?

• Administrative support
• Adequate resources
• Collaboration and cooperative teaching
• Professional development
• Peer mentoring
• Instructional techniques and management routines
• Knowledge of what to expect
• Teacher autonomy
• Participation in decision making
• Performance feedback
• Emotional support
• Observing other teachers teach
• Discussing their teaching with others
• Handbooks with key information

Statistics from "Beginning Now: Resources for Organizers of Beginning Teachers, 1999"

Next: Toolkit: Sample Surveys