WWC Quick Review: Impacts of Comprehensive Teacher Induction on Teacher and Student Outcomes June 2009

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What is this study about?

The study examined the effects of comprehensive teacher induction (CTI) programs on teacher outcomes and student achievement.

Within participating school districts, schools were randomly assigned to offer their beginning teachers either a CTI program or the district’s standard induction program.

The study examined CTI’s effects on teacher practice and teacher retention. This review examines the study’s teacher retention analysis.

The analysis of teacher retention focused on about 1,000 teachers in 418 eligible elementary schools in the 2005-06 school year. These schools were in 17 school districts that served primarily low-income students.

Teachers were surveyed at baseline and again after one year to determine the percentage of teachers in each research group that had returned to teach for another year.

The analysis of student outcomes was limited to students of CTI-eligible teachers who taught tested subjects in a tested grade. This sample included nearly 5,000 students in nearly 200 elementary schools.

The standardized language arts and mathematics test scores of students of CTI teachers were compared to those of students of CTI-eligible teachers in control schools.

What did the study authors report about teacher outcomes?

The study found no statistically significant effects of the CTI program on teacher retention rates after one year. On average, 75 percent of the beginning teachers in both research groups returned to their school to teach for a second year. The study also found no effect on the proportion who remained in the teaching profession a year later (about 95 percent for both research groups).

What did the study authors report about student outcomes?

The study found no effects of the CTI program on student reading or math achievement.

The WWC has reservations about these results because CTI students may have been different from control students in ways not controlled for in the analysis.

WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study. The WWC rating refers only to the results summarized above and not necessarily to all results presented in the study.