How to Support New Teachers

This past week the Washington Post published an article entitled “For New Teachers, Early Support Can Sustain Career.” This article discusses the various things than can make an impact on a new teacher. Specifically it looks at the merits of things like mentoring, performance and signing bonuses, training sessions, and teacher inductions. These programs are particularly prevalent in low performing schools in DC and the surrounding area. They can also be found in Baltimore City.

This article was so poignant to me because it touched on a lot of things I have thought about over the last two years. As a new teacher in an under performing school, I have faced numerous challenges. During my first year, I was particularly lucky to have a Department Chair that was incredibly supportive. She mentored me and helped me get through my most difficult moments. Without her help, I’m not sure if I would have made it through my first semester.

One line from this article rang very true to me:

“Good induction and mentoring programs have proven worth. But some programs are underfunded, with mentors who have multiple jobs or are ‘spread very thinly among many buildings,’ said Jennifer King Rice, an associate education professor at the University of Maryland.”

Though we had a true "mentor" at my school, she was spread much too thin and had far too many responsibilities to effectively support the new teachers. Far too many of my colleagues, both in my school and at other schools, were not nearly as lucky as I was in terms of a helpful department chair. They simply were not given the help that they needed. While Baltimore City required us to attend a two-week long new teacher orientation, it proved in some ways to be more harmful than helpful. Those two weeks took away valuable time we could have spent in our schools. Many new teachers in many schools simply got no help at all.

As a new teacher, there is nothing worse than feeling alone. I applaud these school districts for recognizing there is a problem and working on solutions. However, more needs to be done. There has to be a sustained effort among schools to ensure that their teachers, particularly new teachers, feel supported. Collaboration should be required. New teachers should be given a smaller workload; at least until they feel they have gotten their feet planted firmly on the ground. While more money is certainly not a bad thing, studies have shown that rather than cash incentives, that money should be used to hire more mentors or to lighten the teaching burden. I’m glad the issue of teacher retention and potential solutions are being raised. The continued success and support of these programs may go a long way to closing the achievement gap in our lowest performing schools. If new teachers, especially those in alternative certification programs, are expected to succeed, these kinds of programs must also succeed.