The New Teacher

Jennifer Gartell was elated when she accepted her first teaching job at Loma Linda Elementary School in Phoenix. It didn't matter that she was hired only a week before school began, or that she had to spend nearly $300 of her own money on classroom supplies to get her classroom ready for the year — she was just eager to make a difference with students. But within a month, Gartell was ready to quit.

"I was totally stressed and the kids knew it," she says.

As a new teacher, Gartell was beginning to realize that she lacked an adequate repertoire of teaching strategies. Her new colleagues were friendly, but few had time to help her.

By the end of the first year, Jennifer's class was "totally out of control." Instead of spending her summer months preparing for her next group of kids, she quit the profession altogether — feeling disillusioned and tired.

Jennifer's story is not a new one — in fact, it's just one of the thousands behind the staggering teacher attrition rate in the United States today. Education Week suggests that the most talented new educators are often the most likely to leave.

In teaching today, the first-year teacher is typically assigned to the same tasks, in and out of the classroom, as a long-time veteran. Novice teachers will sometimes meet the challenge — usually in schools committed to helping new teachers.

But supportive schools tend to be the exception, not the rule. Too many teachers start their careers in environments where closed classroom doors, not open collaboration, set the tone.

"Schools must transform into institutions that nurture new teachers and their students, that sustain teachers and the teaching profession," notes Ellen Moir of the New Teacher Center at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

For beginning teachers, it's no longer about taking the first job that comes along. It's about taking the first job where they feel like they can survive — and eventually thrive.

Who Are Today's New Teachers?

Twenty years ago, Jennifer was your "typical" new teacher: fresh out of education school and eager to make a difference. Today, not all first-year teachers follow that pattern. All new teachers are, naturally, new to the profession, but many are hardly new to the world of work. Some come from successful careers in business, law, or the military. Others are former stay-at-home moms whose kids are now older.

Most new teachers do pre-service preparation programs in college. Others get "emergency" or "provisional" licenses. In Los Angeles alone, three out of four teachers hired this year did not have certification.

According to Market Data Retrieval's Public Education Profile, one in every five teachers this year is new to the job. Of these, almost two-thirds were born after 1973. These new teachers can barely remember life before computers.

Research tells us that novices are more likely than their veteran colleagues to speak a second language, to be single, in debt and financially struggling, to have technology skills, and to have little understanding of or trust in unions.

These new teachers are also more likely to be concerned about parental involvement, know about multicultural issues, and get assigned to tough classes they may not be ready to teach. Like most who enter the profession, they are idealistic and enthusiastic. Upon entering the profession, 93 percent feel all children can learn. After one year in the public school system, 88 percent still feel that way.

What Do New Teachers Need?

At a recent first-year teacher conference hosted by the Connecticut Education Association, new teachers were asked: "How do you think CEA, as a teacher's union, can help enrich your career or the teaching profession?"

The overwhelming response: Help us!

"CEA," noted Lauren Weihl, one new Connecticut teacher, "can give me support and guidance on important issues and help me with my needs as a teacher."

All across the country, new teachers are echoing this message.

"I need help with classroom management issues and lesson plans. I want help in figuring out what I need to do to meet state standards and keep my certification current. And I want professional development opportunities," says James Engels, a first-year teacher in Phoenix. "If the Association can help me with these things, then I'll see value in my membership. In return, I'll want to become active and involved."

A Changing of the Guard

Unions are, for many beginning teachers, an unfamiliar — and even unfriendly — concept.

"A lot of new teachers don't understand the union," says Pam Lillie, a second-year teacher in Armada, Michigan. "So they don't get involved."

Many new teachers, adds fellow young teacher Stephanie Holt, fall for the teacher union "stereotype" that appears so often in the media.

"A lot of new teachers think the union is a bad thing or that they'll be considered a troublemaker if they call the union," says this Grand Rapids, Michigan teacher. "More than anything, new teachers need to know that the union is there to give them a voice and that our opinions really do count."

When veterans take the time and energy to reach out to new teachers and close the gap, everyone benefits.

"I think new teachers are more accepting of people than we give them credit for," says 29-year veteran Judy Romzek, a mentor to Pam Lillie. "We have to reach out to them because we need them to pick up where we leave off."

Consider the dynamic between Lillie and Romzek. The younger teacher says Romzek put a friendly face on the union and encouraged her participation. The result? Lillie now chairs her local Association Political Action Committee.

"I didn't see myself as political," she says. "But then, when I thought about it, I thought I can do this."

Like many new teachers, Lillie struggles to be heard and to be taken seriously by older colleagues, administrators, and even parents. But the Association is helping her find her voice:

"I don't want to be one of those people who complains all the time but doesn't do anything to change things," she points out. "I see now that being involved in the Association is a way to be heard."

Because veteran Romzek took the time to get to know Lillie and her interests, tutored her on the Association's history, and offered her a way to share her views and concerns with others, Lillie is now convinced of the Association's value.

"Next, I think I want to be on the bargaining committee," Lillie says.

With that, Judy Romzek rests easy, knowing that her Association will be in capable hands for many years to come.

Next: Building an Effective New Teacher Support System