Rethinking Schools, Winter 2009/2010
Summary: Miner discusses the high turnover rate of the profession and looks at efforts being made to address it, with special focus on Urban Teacher Residency programs, an innovation that (at the time of this article) were operating with some success.
Key Points:
- half of new teachers leave within five years in "regular districts," within three years in urban districts
- two main points to address: recruiting the best teachers possible, and then retaining those teachers
- "more teachers are expected to retire between 2010 to 2020 since any decade since World War II"
- "Urban Teacher Residencies" is one technique combining recruitment and retention, so far with some success
Intended Audience: general public, new and future teachers, those interested in issues of teacher retention and training
Relevance: As either new or future teachers, this article is immediately relevant to us! The prediction of so many teachers retiring in the next few years is heartening in a depressed jobs market, but tempered by the fact that many of those teachers are leaving because they couldn't hack it in underfunded, uncaring, hard schools. It will also be interesting to keep an eye or the UTR programs; they sound like a very valuable idea that will hopefully pan out. Sort of a combination of TFA and an MAT program.
Interesting! I was talking with a co-worker the other day and she said she feels that the current programs for teacher education are inadquate. She feels that so many new teachers come in too "green" and under-prepared. Thus they tend to burn out quickly. We talked about how with other professions there tends to be much more preparation and support in the initial years. Think about the structures in place for a new counselor, they have a mentor (not sure the actual term for that) who reviews their cases and provides them constant feedback. I feel like I'm babbling - can't quite convey clearly what I mean. Hope it makes some sense!
ReplyDeleteOh and also I think new counselors have to log so many hours before they get their actual license - again not sure of the specifics. I wonder if there could be a model similar to that for teachers? Doctors may treat physical stuff and it is huge that they know their stuff but I honestly wonder if the enormity of a teachers influence in a child's life / learning is considered?
ReplyDeleteEeek!! This is scary! It makes me so nervouse because each week we sit in class and talk about our long term goals and issues with the system. We all know it's a difficult and seemingly uphill battle, but we all have high hopes for the future.
ReplyDeleteThen, to look at these specifics is so daunting and makes me wonder if I'll be one of those stats, or if I'll be the one with the tools to work through the tough times?
I have a friend who is teaching at a High School, it is her first year and she is struggling - with a capital S! She has no support from the administration. I think the issue of teacher turn over is a complicated one. I mentioned this article to her and asked if she felt like there should be more support, training, education, a possible residency program...etc??? She was all in favor of any and all those things. She is doing her absolute best and doesn't feel like it is good enough.
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