El Paso Teacher Residency-Induction Model

1. El Paso Teacher Residency-Induction Model

2. Identifies 9 elements common to successful induction programs. Thoughts Of these 9 elements, the following are generally found to be associated with high quality induction and are frequently missing in typical mentoring oriented induction programs: Formal/structured mentoring system Adjustment of work load and conditions for beginning teachers Developmentally appropriate professional develop plan Release time for mentors and mentees Opportunities for rich collegial collaboration Arizona K-12 Center – Policy Brief (2002), Induction Programs

3. Wayne, Andrew J., Youngs, Peter, Fleischman, Steve. (2005). Research matters/improving teacher induction. Educational Leadership, 62, 8, www.ascd.org.Center for Teaching Quality. (2006). Why mentoring and induction matters and what must be done for new teachers. Best Practices and Policies, 5, 2. Chapel Hill, NC. • Teacher turnover is costly ($12k replacement cost each) • Turnover negatively impacts school academic culture • Turnover negatively impacts student achievement • Quality induction increases teacher retention • Quality induction increases student learning Thoughts • The economic benefits of teacher retention are important, but • The negative impact of constant turnover on the culture of the school is critical. • Despite the best effort of individuals, unless the school culture enhances and sustains collective development of a focused academic culture, school improvement efforts have minimal impact.

4. Johnson, Susan Moore and Kardos, Susan M. (2002). Keeping new teachers in mind. Educational Leadership, 59, 6, 12-16. • “What new teachers need is sustained, school-based professional development… Principals and teacher leaders have the largest roles to play is fostering such experiences.” • Compares School Professional Culture with other forms. Thoughts • Reinforces the importance of school culture. • It takes a village to raise a child. It takes all the teachers and administrators to create a professional culture and learning community.

5. New Teacher Center (2006). Understanding New York City’s groundbreaking induction initiative. University of California, Santa Cruz. • A mentoring program can be no better than the quality of the mentors. • Having good mentors is necessary but not sufficient for a quality induction program. Thoughts • While the need for quality mentoring of beginning teachers has been “rediscovered,” this won’t amount to much unless mentoring and induction is contextualized into a much broader context of understanding. • The context includes school organization, school culture, developmentally appropriate professional development, and focus upon high cognitive demand, learner centered, standards based outcomes.

6. From these articles and many others, professors at UTEP and K-12 teachers and administrators derived a number of guiding assumptions in developing the El Paso Teacher Residency – Induction Program • Mentoring is a component of Induction; Induction is a component of ongoing professional development; Professional Development is a component of School Improvement. • The development of school academic and professional culture, and continuous improvement, requires the participation of all organizational members. • While everyone agrees that continuous school improvement is good, there is not always agreement about how the “end game” of improvement should be defined. • <More>

7. We are inspired by the Carnegie National Network for Educational Renewal and define the objective of school renewal/continuous improvement as involving (a) high cognitive demand oriented teaching and student assignments, (b) learner-centered instruction, and (c) standards-based curriculum. Principles of Constructivism are frequently associated with this orientation. We call this an orientation toward Powerful Teaching and Learning. • Standards-based, learner centered instruction should not be confused with state mandated, standardized testing. Regardless of benefits of standardized testing, the research literature is unequivocal that a frequent unintended consequence is narrowing of the curriculum, focus on basic skills, and teaching to the test. • Adoption of strategies of Powerful Teaching and Learning generally avoids the problems associated with “teaching to the test” while also leading to higher test scores.

8. From these assumptions the El Paso Teacher Residency – Induction Program work groups generated several design standards. • Anticipate and identify the needs of teachers at each stage of professional development and integrate beginning teacher induction models within the broader conceptual framework of ongoing exemplary professional development. • An effective induction program must not only enable beginning teachers to adapt to the realities of schooling in which they find themselves, but also enable experienced teachers to further develop the perspectives and practices that are consistent with principles of standards–based, content rich, learner-centered teaching. • Induction of beginning teachers into a community of learners perspective requires providing opportunities for simultaneous renewal and parallel development of experienced educators of the same learning community. • Structured and systematic data collection in the domains of classroom pedagogy, curriculum, school organizational culture, structure and social relationships, student academic performance, as well as program evaluation data directly related to mentoring should be a central component of the induction model.

9. The El Paso Teacher Residency-Induction Model is: • Comprehensive and sophisticated • Designed around three structural elements • Oriented toward school renewal for powerful teaching and learning: The structure of the Residency-Induction Model provides simultaneous: • Support for Beginning Teachers • Support for Experienced and Mentor Teachers • Support for Administrators and Organization Structure During the pilot phase of the project, the primary emphasis will be on support for beginning teachers and mentors.