Additional resources for Recruiting and Retaining Teachers
October 2010
“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is
one day with a great teacher.”
– Japanese Proverb
Mentoring teachers who are new to the profession is frequently mentioned as an effective strategy for improving both new teachers’ skills and the likelihood that they will stay in the profession. A lot has been written about the merits of creating a community of support for new teachers. Here are some quick links to that information.
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First stop: NCIPP.
“Your source for induction and mentoring in special education,” NCIPP is the National Center to Inform Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development. Enough said.
http://education.ufl.edu/grants/ncipp/
Retaining and supporting first-year teachers—Have you considered the elements of successful induction and mentoring programs?
http://www.coe.ufl.edu/copsse/docs/PB-11/1/PB-11.pdf
The impact of mentoring on teacher retention: What the research says.
This 2004 report’s primary objective is to provide policymakers, educators, and researchers with a reliable assessment of what is known, and not known, about the effectiveness of teacher induction programs, especially its impact on teacher retention.
http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/50/36/5036.htm
Mentor professional development.
The New Teacher Center offers a menu of trainings from which educational organizations can choose to support the growth of mentors, coaches, supervisors, master teachers, consultant teachers, principals, and coordinators of induction programs. The trainings are offered regionally on selected dates throughout the year on a per participant enrollment basis. NTC trainings are also available to school districts, universities, and other educational entities on a contractual basis. You’ll also find many research-based briefs on mentoring, including:
Mentoring New Teachers to Increase Retention – A Look at the Research (4 pages)
http://community.newteachercenter.org/resources/mentoring-new-teachers-increase-retention-look-research
Quality Induction: An Investment in Teachers
http://community.newteachercenter.org/resources/quality-induction-investment-teachers
Supporting Beginning Teachers with Heart and Mind.
A decade of lessons learned from the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project.
http://essentialeducator.org/?p=698
Best practice resources on mentoring.
This site concentrates almost exclusively on teacher mentoring. There are toolkits and lots of “how-to’s” about setting up programs—most of the info is for sale but not too expensive.
http://teachermentors.com/
Edutopia on resources for mentors.
http://www.edutopia.org/mentor-teachers-resources
And while we’re talking mentoring…
The National Mentoring Center (NMC) actually focuses upon the mentoring of youth, but you may find NMC’s 10-module training curriculum offers useful and generic guidance on how to create a mentoring system that works.
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/index.php
A Better Beginning: Supporting and Mentoring New Teachers.
$25.95, ASCD, by the same author as Keeping Good Teachers
http://shop.ascd.org/ProductDisplay.cfm?ProductID=199236
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Would you like to visit another resource page in the Recruiting and Retaining Teacher series?
- Short and Sweet Summaries
- Guides and How To’s
- What Does the Research Say?
- Organizations to Know
- Mentoring New Teachers (you’re already here)
- Communities of Practice
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