It's Everyone's Job

Now that the dust has settled, the desks are in order and your seating charts are as close to "final" as they'll ever be, it's time to make certain the school year is a good one.

For the new teacher, that might simply mean, surviving the nine months.

For the principal, and the veterans, that might mean making certain the good teachers continue to teach.

Teacher turnover continues to be a national problem. Data from Texas indicate that about 11% of all new teachers left teaching after two years. That's not too bad when compared to Illinois: 31% of those who started teaching in 2003 had left education by 2008. And Robert Ingersoll suggests that "after just five years, between 40 and 50 percent of all beginning teachers have left the profession." (This information can be found in several works by Ingersoll, including an article he co-authored with Smith in Educational Leadership from May 2003 entitled "The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage"). The Haberman Foundation estimates the numbers to be even worse: "It is a commonly known fact that 50% of the new teachers leave the profession within the first five years of teaching."

In "No Dream Denied, National Commission on Teaching and America's Future," it appears that almost a quarter of a million teachers leave the profession annually. This number does not include retirees or transfers to another school district and is typical of preceding and subsequent years.

We're losing some of our best prospects.

If we're to keep them, we need to act early in the school year. Here are some thoughts:

• Mentoring. We know all about mentoring: assign an old veteran teacher to a new one, tell them to get together from time-to-time and chat. And hope for the best.
  
  Many of us have experienced the debacle of a mentoring gone bad: the social studies newbie who dreams of scintillating class discussions and enlightening debates on current issues is mentored by Captain Video who shows four movies a week, interjecting only quizzes and lectures.
  
  New Mentoring may require a number of mentors: Captain Video may be helpful once a month or so, but two or three other teachers may have much more to offer. Think "outside the box" and look at mentoring across class/subject/grade lines. The best teacher practices are not found only in the third grade classroom of Mrs. Rugg or the History class of Mr. McClandless. And there is no rule that says the mentors must be "old hands." The second year teacher may have some great tips for her rookie colleague.


• Support. Ask the new teacher why he or she is leaving the profession and the most common answer has something to do with discipline. In the Summer 2006 issue of the American Educator Leslie Baldacci introduced her article on "Why New Teachers Leave..." with this: "My classroom was just one deck chair on the Titanic. The kids ran wild. They swore, fought, refused to work. At assemblies they booed the principal. The only punishment was suspension, and that wasn't so terrible. As one of my students, Cortez, put it, 'At least it's better than having to come up here.'"
  
  First, we should try to not put the new teacher in with the kids who are running wild. But mostly we should give them the tools and support needed to deal with those kids. Unfortunately, many of these "tools" are in the form of a book to be read. Like the CLEAR model as presented by Lawrence R. Rogien in his Opportunities and Options in Classroom Management. Or Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher by Robert J. Marzano. Or Principles of Classroom Management: A Professional Decision-Making Model by James Levin. The list goes on and on. Teachers just don't have the time (especially first year teachers!) to read hundreds of pages while grading papers and devising lesson plans.


• Look at Best Practices. The NEA has a guide for "Meeting the Challenges of Recruitment and Retention." Included is a comprehensive listing of organizations, programs and publications that address retention issues. It's certainly worth a look.


• Create a Positive Environment. The National Staff Development Council suggests "... teachers' working conditions can be significantly improved and turnover considerably reduced, even in our most challenged schools. An essential aspect of improving teachers' working conditions is establishing a high-performance culture whose hallmark is a shared responsibility for the learning of all students." Just being aware of the importance of a positive environment is a good step. Making teacher meetings and department meetings functional, interesting and enjoyable is a good second step.


• It's everyone's job. Keeping the good teachers teaching isn't just the job of the principal or superintendent. Every teacher has a role in this task - and every teacher in the building will benefit.