New Teachers—Last to Be Hired, First to Burn Out
by Lance Helgeson
Last-minute hiring of educators and lack of meaningful support for such hires once in the classroom contribute to high rates of educator attrition and less than optimal student achievement, concludes a recent study by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education's Project on the Next Generation of Teachers. The study polled first- and second-year teachers in four states on hiring and support issues to reach its findings:
- Thirty-three percent of districts' new teachers are hired after the school year starts;
- Fifty percent of teachers meet with other teachers at the district where they work prior to taking a job;
- Fifty-six percent of new hires report no assistance available to help manage their new responsibilities effectively;
- Forty-six of new educators come to the profession at an average age of 38 with substantial work experience in another field; and
- Seven and one-half percent of new educators teach a lesson for potential employers prior to being offered a job.
Most school districts need to rethink their hiring process and provide more substantive help for educators, says professor Susan Moore Johnson, who directs the Harvard study. The system "needs to be rebuilt," she says.
Johnson and others say the hiring and support shortcomings result from several factors:
- Delays in state budget approvals that effectively freeze schools from knowing how many positions will be available;
- Collective bargaining agreements that give more seasoned educators first crack at open positions and slow the hiring process; and
- Traditional, but outmoded, practices that often place new hires in a district's least desirable positions and, for the growing number of new educators with previous careers, don't account for the teamwork and collaborative nature of past professional experience essential to maintaining this population's interest.
"If they find that schools don't meet their needs, they will look again" for another position or career, Johnson says. "These dynamics are a disincentive to those considering a career in teaching-and make the annual round of new hiring a scramble for most districts," says Harvey Hunt, senior education policy associate for The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning in Santa Cruz, California.
Some schools are taking steps to manage the shortcomings outlined in the study. The Elk Grove (California) Unified School District has earned national recognition for its Teacher Education Institute (TEI), a collaboration between the school district and San Francisco State University. Known to some as a "grow your own" hiring and recruitment strategy, the Institute places district educators in college classrooms, training the teachers they'll eventually work next to. The district consciously selects candidates for the program, splitting them between those whose first career is teaching and those who've chosen the field as a second or third career.
Each year, when 100 graduates of the Institute take positions in the Elk Grove system, "they have a support group of teachers, coaches, and principals, as well as one another" to manage the challenges and stresses of their new jobs, says district superintendent David Gordon. He credits the program, as well as refinements to the district's mentoring program, for achieving a district-wide retention rate of 97 percent among TEI graduates and giving the district a reputation as a "great place to work."
