TEACHER SHORTAGE LOOMS - Induction Book Provides Solutions

Effective teaching expert Harry Wong pairs with Annette Breaux, designer of highly successful Induction program, to pen how-to book for those interested in training and retaining new teachers.

SAN DIEGO, CA--The United States is experiencing a dramatic shortage of teachers, and by the year 2006 the student population is expected to grow by 3 million. With one half of the current teaching force expected to retire within ten years, and an astounding attrition rate among beginning teachers, there is an urgent need to retain new teachers and provide them with the skills necessary for being effective from the very first day of school.

Currently, large numbers of new teachers leave the profession within the first one to four years. In some districts the rate of attrition during the first year is as high as 17 percent. Between 40-50 percent leave during the first seven years and more than two-thirds of that group will do so in the first four years of teaching.

Studies and experience show that teacher induction is the solution to these problems. According to Harry Wong and Annette Breaux, authors of the newly released book, Induction - How to Train, Support and Retain New Teachers, Induction is the crucial step between receiving teaching credentials and taking charge of a classroom." They cite a study conducted by Education Week which showed that teachers who had not participated in an induction program were nearly twice as likely to leave after their first three years of teaching as were teachers who had received the benefit of an induction program.

In How to Retain New Teachers," one article in their Effective Teaching series hosted by the Teachers.Net Gazette http://teachers.net/gazette/FEB03/wong.html, Harry and Rosemary Wong write,

New teachers come into the profession having invested years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars with the vision of making a difference in the lives of young people. It is a crime when they are just thrown into a classroom with no training or support," insist the authors.

"If what teachers know about teaching is learned on the job, then why not systematically teach new teachers on the job with a sustained induction program?"

Effective induction programs not only retain highly qualified new teachers, they also ensure that these teachers are teaching effectively from the very first day of school.

According to Wong and Breaux, the most compelling and successful way to keep good teachers is with a structured and sustained induction program that typically lasts three years.

Induction is the process of preparing, supporting, and retaining new teachers. It includes all of the things done to support new teachers and to acculturate them to teaching, insuring their success from their very first day of teaching, and introducing them to the responsibilities, missions, and philosophies of their schools and districts."

The new book, Induction - How to Train, Support and Retain New Teachers, offers solutions from real induction programs, with their plans and activities mapped, step-by-step for easy replication and it includes contacts for over 30 induction program directors.

It is a "how to" book which includes in an easy to read and attractive presentation:

• Specific details about how any district can successfully train, support, and retain new teachers.
*A district that lost only one teacher last year and is the adopted model for the entire state shares how to achieve similar results.

• Districts lose $50,000 every time a new teacher leaves the system. Read about a district whose entire induction program costs $50,000.
• Learn from the school district that has a four-year induction program and prepares its teachers to apply for national board certification.
• A district cut its attrition rate from 53 percent to 15 percent in one year; it now hovers around 7 percent. Its program is explained in detail.
• A non-profit organization recruits and provides rigorous hands-on training for exceptionally talented people to become urban school principals. Learn the structure of the program.
• A Las Vegas principal who has not lost a teacher in seven years reveals her methods.

The book is available through the publisher by phoning 650-965-7896. Or you can fax your purchase order: Fax: 650-965-7890. You may also order through the website, www.EffectiveTeaching.com.

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