Development of a Systematic and Ongoing Training
Program for the Induction of Beginning
Teachers in Palm Beach County
Organizational Leadership Program, LDR 8567
Chapter 1: Introduction
Beginning teacher have difficulties applying their pedagogical learning to real-life situations during the first year of teaching. The leap from college student to classroom practitioner is exceptionally wide. Teacher must not only be competent in their subject and know how to teach it, they must maintain a climate in which teaching and learning must take place. A teacher personality is sufficiently exposed in teaching that his or her persona is almost transparent. This is a threatening, anxiety-producing situation for beginning teachers who is just starting to establish a professional self-concept.
Newly licensed teachers are prepared to begin to teach, but they are not thoroughly proficient. They are also not ready to fine tune their competence without assistance and support. A complete conception and a realistic awareness of being a teacher cannot be gained entirely or understood sufficiently in preservice training.
One of the key issues targeted by current to build quality teacher workforces across the country is the need to support teachers who are beginning their professional careers. The calls for increasing support for beginning teachers are not new. Over the past two decades, teacher reform advocates and national reports have urged states and local education policy leaders to support initiatives that assist novice teachers.
In a research conducted in the United States over the past ten years, as many as 40% of beginning teachers resigned during their first two years of teaching ( Marlow, Inman & Betancourt-Smith, 1997). The PBCSD hires approximately 600 beginning teachers annually (Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association, 2003). Data from internal district personnel records during the 1998-2000 school years indicated a definitive increase in the attrition rates of beginning teachers from 26% in 1998 to 40% in 2000. As an additional but related concern, the PBCSD has not made adequate yearly academic performance progress (Florida Department of Education, 2003). Although 95% of students were tested with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), only 10% showed improvement in reading and mathematics.
Unfortunately, the majority of the students who were not adequately performing were from schools with a high attrition rate of beginning teachers (Florida Department of Education, 2003). This poor student performance contrasts with the district’s identified mission of “commitment to educational excellence and preparation for all students with the knowledge, skills, and ethics required for responsible citizenship” (PBCSD, 2002). As a component of this mission, the goal of the district is to develop an educational culture wherein beginning teachers will find a place that is both personally and professionally satisfying.
Nature of the Problem
The problem to be addressed by this study is that beginning teachers lack skills, preparation and support to enable successful induction during the first year of teaching. The first two or three weeks of school are critical in determining a teacher’s success throughout the remainder of the year. During this period, many new teachers feel isolated, vulnerable and deeply concerned with how they will be perceived (Wong, 1999). Many of these teachers who chose to stay in the profession had to learn the skills to deal with the never-ending tasks of a teacher; however, some of these teachers gave up hope and sought out new careers (Breaux & Wong 2002).
On district exit interviews, the content of the exit interviews was reviewed by the researcher to determine the types of responses made by those exiting the district’s employment. The general concern voiced by beginning teachers, especially elementary teachers, were the lack of support from district staff and school personnel during the first week of school. Many beginning teachers reported that they were especially disappointed when they did not receive individualized help with the many tasks ahead. For example, beginners were not provided with needed assistance during the first week of school to help them in (a) gathering instructional materials, (b) setting up their classrooms, (c) getting acquainted with the beginning environment, or (d) becoming familiar with the characteristics of the community, parents, and the students.
Rogers & Babinski (2002) stated beginning teachers need skills not only in understanding how children learn, but also in understanding their own development as a teacher. The problem is while many beginning teachers have the talent and the ability to be great teachers; they are often misguided and discouraged by other teachers. Induction years function as the formative period for learning how to teach, they usually are equally important as a time for beginners to gain a clearer, deeper understanding of themselves as teachers. Induction includes all the activities that train and support new/beginning teacher, and it articulates them to the mission and philosophy of their school and district (Wong, 2002).
An induction process should take three years to adequately prepare beginning teachers for the challenges they face. In general induction programs function to help beginners make the transition from students of teaching to teachers of students. It determines not only whether someone remains in teaching, but also what kind of teacher they become (Stansbury & Zimmerma, 2002). In comparison, the PBCSD provided only two days of training and preparation for the new/beginning teachers. The beginning teacher induction program consisted of only two-day new teacher orientation which is held prior to pre-school. The program focused upon a broad overview of the school district’s policies and procedures. After this two-day orientation, teachers were dismissed to their individual schools to manage on their own. An Educator Support contact person is responsible for facilitating the program at each school site. Within the second month of the school year the ESP contact person paired each new/beginning with a mentor and a buddy teacher.
The high attrition rate in the PBCSD is, in part, a result of the many difficulties faced by the beginning teachers. For example, they encounter the challenges of poor discipline, classroom management, and lack of parental support. Frantz (1999) pointed out high teacher turnover leads to a less stable and effective learning environment for students. It also places greater demands on teachers and other school staff members. Research clearly links student achievement with teacher quality. Among the key factors associated with declining student performance are inadequate practical training and daily support for beginning teachers. Clearly a need exists for an ongoing and systematic support base for beginning teachers.
The target population of this study is the beginning teacher in the Palm Beach County School District, Florida. The term “beginning teacher” and “new teacher” have been use synonymously throughout the literature. However, for the purpose of this study, a beginning teacher is defined as a teacher who enters the teaching profession directly from college, and has not taught before or who has not been previously paid for a full-time teaching position. In contrast a new teacher is a teacher with previous teaching experience who has paid for full-time teaching experience but happens to be new to a particular school district. The district hires approximately six hundred teachers annually. Data from the district personnel records during the 1999-2000 school years showed a definitive increase in the attrition rates of beginning teachers (PBCSD, 2001). Castetter & Young, (2000) asked “why do such large numbers of new teachers leave education when they enter with such high hopes?” It appears that the beginning teacher’s needs for security and satisfaction are not satisfied especially in areas of classroom management and discipline (Bolich, 2001).
One major paradigm is the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), which showed that 50% of students in PBCSD failed the reading and math. Higher failing rate of students came from the school with a high percentage of attrition rates of new/beginning teachers (FDOE, 2003). Researcher clearly links student achievement with teacher quality. Among the key factors associated with declining student performance are inadequate practical training and daily support for beginning/new teachers (Halford, 1999).
The attrition rate is all-high in the district. As a result, the number of beginning teachers who left teaching in Palm Beach County ranged from 26 percent to 40 percent. There is a large turnover rate of beginning teachers due to the many difficulties they face during their first year of teaching. The high rate of attrition is a serious problem, which has continued for over a decade (PBCSD, 2003). More state-level support is needed to produce effective solutions to remedy the alarming number of new/beginning teachers who decide to leave the profession. As a direct result, the high attrition rate of beginning teachers was hindering students’ overall academic performance. Within this context, the present study will develop a plan to identify that a need exists for an ongoing and systematic support for beginning teachers.
Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this study is to conduct a descriptive study on the effectiveness of systematic training program to beginning teachers. The descriptive research method uses observation and surveys. In this method, it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. This descriptive type of research utilised observations in this study. Descriptive research is a type of research that is primarily concerned with describing the nature or conditions and degree in detail of the present situation (Creswell, 1994). The emphasis is on describing rather than on judging or interpreting. The aim of descriptive research is to verify formulated hypotheses that refer to the present situation in order to elucidate it.
The study will investigate the factors that cause the high attrition rate among beginning teachers in PBCSD and the failure of many students. Specifically, this study will develop a systematic ongoing training program to improve the beginning teacher induction program. First, this study will determine which beginning teachers need and do not need assistance. Then, PBSCD induction program will be analyzed. This study intends to determine if this program is mandated to support beginning teachers, or merely voluntary as set standard.
Through the investigation of the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the induction program, the study aims to develop, by providing recommendations, beginning teachers’ classroom management skills, instruction and curricula, interpersonal relationships, need of parents, record keeping and other written procedures. The beginning teachers and staff that will be selected for the study will be equipped through a series of training in the following areas of teacher induction: (1) Collaboration between the school district and the university, (2) reduced beginning teachers work load, and (3) mentoring. These factors will be utilized in the development of a plan to improve the beginning teacher induction program.
Moreover, the study aims to determine the needs of beginning teacher through in-depth interviews. Here, the author will ask the interviewees of their perceptions and attitudes on induction programs provided to them with respect to the quality of their teaching and job satisfaction.
The research described in this document is based on qualitative research method. Qualitative approaches to research are based on a world view which is holistic. Under these approaches, it is believed that there is not a single reality; reality is based upon perceptions that are different for each person and change over time; and what we know has meaning only within a given situation or context. Furthermore qualitative research can be multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.
Background and Significance of the Study
Retention of beginning teachers in the profession has always been a concern. As the 21st century began, the need to support and retain beginning teachers was reaching a crisis (Odell & Ferraro, 1992). This study seeks to examine ways to improve a systematic on going training program for the support of beginning teachers. The problem many researchers note is that effective programs to support beginning teachers are few and far between. Despite the popularity and spread of induction programs for beginning teachers, too many of these programs lack the necessary components to be effective. These aspects include adequate funding, staff training, administrative support, and careful attention to beginners’ individual needs (Moskowitz & Stephens, 1999).
Induction programs should provide beginning teachers the necessary models and tools for beginning their teaching careers. It should provide them with specific guidance aimed at helping them meet performance standards for continued certification (Andrew, 1999). The first year of teaching has often been described as the most difficult year. Regrettably, this is a period when college support is withdrawn and the school district’s assistance is either very limited or perceived as a supplemental tool to assessment or evaluation (Robinson, 1999).
DePaul (2000) stated that, the first year for beginning teachers are consumed with keeping their head above water: struggling to learn new curriculum, develop lesson plans, deal with behavioral issues, track down supplies, and respond to various needs of students, parents, faculty members, and administrators. Yet, the most significant problems of beginning teachers are related to the behavior and management of students, and that these unavoidable problems are primarily due to inexperience on the part of the teachers. Pigge & Marso, (1999). Contended beginning teachers assume full responsibilities for classroom instruction, discipline, assessment, student motivation, and parental interaction with minimal academic-based teaching qualifications with only a few weeks of student teaching. Most beginning teachers do not even have an understanding of school expectations. Lacking the seniority of veteran teachers, they often start with the most difficult assignments, and the students with most diverse and challenging needs.
The county had an enrollment of approximately 10,000 teachers of that population 600 are new/beginning teachers. For the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001school year there was an increase in the number of beginning teachers leaving the profession. Data from the department of education shows that approximately 40% of beginning teachers in Palm Beach County School district leave the profession within the first years (FDOE, 2002).
Many beginning teachers receive no assistance from veteran teachers. Isolated professionally and personally, these beginning teachers are forced to manage without support. This does not account, however, to the vast number of promising teachers who leave because of exhaustion, disillusionment, lack of confidence, and inadequate support (DePaul, 2000).
The goal of the county, its administrators and teachers must be to develop an educational environment that establishes behaviors, attitudes, and expectations which combines to represent the culture of the school to encourage better teacher attrition rates (PBCSD, 2002). The truth is that beginning/new teachers need specialized training, particularly in area of classroom management. The county has not approached professional development at the point where real change must take place within its organization. Thus, leadership, organizational structure, rules, regulation and procedures must be examined in order for a complete understanding of what is needed to reform an existing induction program (Morgan, 1998).
Leaders are responsible for making their organizational subunit function as an integrated whole in the pursuit of its basic purpose. Consequently, the leaders must provide guidance to subordinates, ensure that they are motivated, and create favorable conditions for doing the work. Leaders are pictured as heroic figures that are capable of determining the fate of their organizations (Yukl, 1998). Leaders must have the ability to make something happen under conditions of extreme uncertainty. The effectiveness of leadership must embrace the organization’s goals, values, desires, expectation and other orientations that lead a person to act in one way rather than another. They know that action and flexibility are required to improve the organization performance.
The researcher serves the role as a mentor of the school Educator Support Program (ESP), and the Alternative Teacher Education Program (ATEP). The mentor is assigned to one or two new/beginning teachers, and is responsible for informing the teacher about the expectations of the school, the district and the state requirement. The researcher has successfully completed the Clinical Educator Training (CET), and the Florida Performance Measurement System (FPMS). These trainings are provided through the School District of Palm Beach County Educator Support Program for teachers. The mentor support new/beginning teachers going through the Educator Support Program (ESP). The Educator Support Program provides support to newly hired teachers in the district.
The mentor is responsible for providing support and assistance for new/beginning teachers during the first year of teaching. The duties of the mentor include advising about instructional content, strategies, classroom instruction, conduct classroom observations, giving advising about school /district resources, complete informal formative and summative instruments and parents involvement. The mentor is readily available to assist the new/beginner teacher with immediate classroom advice and serve as a source for the school and the community.
This research will be useful for teachers and supervisors in implementing changes on the induction program. By proposing alternative means on the improvement of beginning teacher skills, this dissertation will help all concerned to overcome the barriers in implementing an effective beginning teacher program. Beginning teachers will be benefited by this study as it designs effective measure in the program that is more likely to achieve success among beginning teachers.
This study seeks to understand and interpret what it is like during the first year of teaching, and the types of assistance provided to beginning teachers. The result of this study will make a contribution to both educational practice and strategy improvement as they relate to support for beginning teachers. Additionally, it will provide significant data for staff development professionals as they design programs to meet the needs of beginning teachers. When these needs are met, not only the beginning teachers are benefited; consequently, the academic performance of their students will be enhanced. Moreover, this research will provide recommendations on how to value employees as they are taking a large part in the overall performance of the company.
Additional Reference
Creswell, J.W. (1994) Research design. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
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