New teachers need extensive help

7/13/04 -- Comprehensive induction programs should be provided for all new teachers, the Alliance for Excellent Education recommends in a June 23 report.

American schools spend more than $2.6 billion annually to replace teachers who have dropped out of the teaching profession, states Tapping the Potential: Retaining and Developing High Quality New Teachers. It says comprehensive induction, especially in a teacher's first two years on the job, is the most effective strategy "to stem the rapidly increasing teacher attrition rate."

According to the report, 14 percent of new teachers leave by the end of their first year, 33 percent leave within three years, and almost 50 percent leave in five years.

Comprehensive induction programs cut attrition rates in half, the report says. Such programs also develop new teachers more rapidly into highly skilled, experienced professionals.

According to the report, comprehensive induction includes high-quality mentoring, ongoing professional development, common planning time, an external network of teachers, and standards-based evaluation.

The alliance reports that induction can create a payoff of $1.37 for each $1 invested. But only 1 percent of beginning teachers receive ongoing training and support when they enter the teaching profession.