The Treatment: Comprehensive Induction Services

The comprehensive induction program components included carefully selected and trained full-time mentors; a curriculum of intensive and structured support for beginning teachers; a focus on instruction, with opportunities for novice teachers to observe experienced teachers; formative assessment tools that permit evaluation of practice on an ongoing basis and require observations and constructive feedback; and outreach to district and school-based administrators to educate them about program goals and to garner their systemic support for the program. The curriculum included a number of activities. Mentors were asked to meet weekly with treatment teachers for approximately two hours. Conversation was expected to center around the induction programs’ teacher learning activities, but mentors also exercised professional judgment in selecting additional activities to meet beginning teachers’ needs, including observing instruction or providing a demonstration lesson; reviewing lesson plans, instructional materials, or student work; or interacting with students. Treatment teachers were also provided monthly professional development sessions to complement their interactions with mentors, and the ETS districts also offered monthly study groups—mentor-facilitated peer support meetings for treatment teachers. Treatment teachers also observed veteran teachers once or twice during the year. At the end of the school year, treatment teachers in both ETS and NTC districts participated in a colloquium celebrating the year’s successes and teachers’ professional growth.

The goal of the study was to assign each mentor to 12 beginning teachers, though mentor caseloads ranged from 8 to 14 teachers over the course of the year. The program providers sought individuals with a minimum of five years of teaching experience in elementary school, recognition as an exemplary teacher, and experience in providing professional development or mentoring other teachers (particularly beginning teachers). The providers brought their respective mentors together for 10 to 12 days of training. The training was spread across four sessions of 2 to 3 days, with the first session held during the summer of 2005 and the rest taking place throughout the school year. Trainings previewed the content of upcoming professional development sessions and gradually introduced processes of mentor/mentee work in such areas as reflecting on instructional practices and analyzing student work. The trainings focused on improving beginning teachers’ instruction, including the use of forms and processes to accomplish this, and mentoring skills for working with beginning teachers, such as using evidence from teachers’ instruction rather than presenting opinions, and conversational techniques such as paraphrasing and asking clarifying questions. Additional support and development opportunities were provided to mentors during the year through weekly meetings of district mentors as well as feedback and advice from district coordinators and program staff.

Both the ETS and NTC programs are based on a curriculum expected to promote effective teaching. The ETS program defines effective teaching in terms of 22 components organized into four domains of professional practice.⁴ The components are aligned with the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC 1992) principles. The NTC induction model defines effective teaching in terms of six Professional Teaching Standards. Each standard, or domain, is broken into a succession of more discretely defined categories of teaching behaviors.⁵

There are other similar features as well. Under each program, the mentor’s goal is to help beginning teachers use evidence from their own practice to recognize and implement effective instruction as defined by the domains or standards. Both induction programs use a continuum of performance as a means for teachers to establish a benchmark and improve their instructional practice.

Practitioners and policymakers should be aware that the programs implemented in this study by ETS and NTC were not necessarily the same models that would be delivered outside the study context. First, for study purposes, we aimed for consistent implementation of each program, with a high level of fidelity to the program design and a quick response to any implementation issues. Second, the providers adapted their program for the study to ensure that the required components were included in a one-year curriculum. Finally, each provider organized off-site mentor training sessions, bringing together the mentors from all of the provider’s study districts. For district-wide implementation with a larger number of mentors, training typically occurs within the district, rather than off-site together with mentors from other districts.

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⁴ The four domains are planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities. As an example, components of the instruction domain include communicating clearly and accurately and using questioning and discussion techniques. The full set of components in each domain is presented in Chapter IV.
⁵ The six standards are planning instruction and designing learning experiences, creating/maintaining effective environments, understanding/organizing subject matter, development as a professional educator, engaging/supporting all students in learning, and assessing student learning. As an example, categories of teaching behaviors in the standard of engaging/supporting all students in learning include connecting prior knowledge, life experience, and interests with learning goals and promoting self-directed, reflective learning. The full set of teaching behaviors in each standard is presented in Chapter IV.