Impact Evaluation of Teacher Induction Programs

Contractors: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR), WestEd, and the Center for Education Leadership

Background/Research Questions:

Title II, Part A, the Improving Teacher State Formula Grants program, is the primary federal funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to support a high quality teacher in every classroom. The program, funded at $2.9 billion in FY 2008, targets high poverty districts and funds a broad array of allowable activities such as support for certification including alternative certification, teacher mentoring and induction, intensive professional development, recruitment, retention, and merit-based teacher and principal pay strategies as well as class size reduction. This evaluation studies induction programs provided by the Educational Testing Service and the New Teacher Center at the University of California-Santa Cruz and thus provides an important source of information for this program.

An estimated 14 percent of teachers leave teaching after one year, 33 percent after three years, and nearly 50 percent after just five years. Even those teachers who persist can find themselves struggling if they are not adequately supported early in their careers. One policy response to the problems of turnover and inadequate support among beginning teachers is to support them with a comprehensive induction program. Such programs include weekly mentoring from a full-time mentor (who provides services such as observations of the beginning teacher with feedback) and opportunities for the beginning teacher to observe veteran teachers teaching. Little rigorous research on the effectiveness of comprehensive induction programs exists. The study addresses the following research questions:

• Are elementary school teachers who are provided a comprehensive induction program more likely to be retained in their district? In the teaching profession?
• Are there impacts on teacher practices?
• Are there impacts on student achievement?

Design:

Two nationally known induction providers are included in the study — the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the New Teacher Center (NTC). Approximately 24 elementary schools within each of 17 districts were randomly assigned to receive during the 2005–06 year either the program provided by ETS or NTC (based upon district preference) or the novice teacher supports normally offered by the district. In 7 districts, teachers in schools assigned to receive the comprehensive induction program continued to receive the ETS/NTC program during the 2006–07 school year. Approximately 1,000 beginning teachers are participating in the study. Data collection includes measures of teacher retention rates assessed annually through the Fall of 2008, teacher practices measured in the Spring of 2006, and student achievement in reading and math from the 2005–06, 2006–07, and 2007–08 school years.

Duration: 5 years (September 2004 – September 2009)

Current Status: The first of three planned reports was released in October 2008 (see http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094034/).

Key Findings

• Teachers in the comprehensive induction condition were more likely to have a full time mentor, spent more time per week in mentoring, and received more assistance from their mentor in a variety of areas (including classroom management and differentiating instruction) compared to control teachers.
• No statistically significant impacts were found between teachers in the comprehensive induction condition and control teachers on measured classroom practices or teacher retention in the school, district or the profession after one year of induction services. Some grade-specific negative impacts were found.