Report says new teachers face ‘bumpy path’
July 28, 2014 | By John Fensterwald | No Comments
A new report concludes that California’s mentoring program for novice teachers, once a national model, has deteriorated due to lack of funding and district commitment, and provides little help for the many new teachers who enter the profession as permanent substitutes or temporary hires.
“We cannot know how many good teachers California has lost as a result of its incoherent and inconsistent beginning teacher policies. Suffice it to say, pursuing a teaching career in California requires substantial persistence and more than a little good luck,” state JuliaKoppich and Daniel Humphries in Bumpy Path Into a Profession: What California’s Beginning Teachers Experience, which was published last week by Policy Analysis for California Education, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California.
Koppich, a San Francisco-based education consultant, and Humphries, a senior education researcher with SRI International, recommend a series of changes to help new teachers progress: creating a more effective evaluation system for new teachers; hiring fewer temporary teachers while providing more support for those who are hired; and reaffirming a commitment to the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, better known by its acronym, BTSA.
Some districts have reduced their funding or assigned multiple teachers to one mentor, while others dismantled their programs, forcing their new teachers to seek programs in other districts at their own expense.
BTSA was created in 1998 for first- and second-year teachers to improve their methods and to encourage them to stay in the profession. Each new teacher was overseen by a veteran teacher who assigned them instructional activities.
All teachers are required to complete BTSA to obtain a final or “clear” teaching credential. For the first decade, the state paid for the program through dedicated funding to districts. But starting in 2008, the Legislature gave districts flexibility to spend dedicated or “categorical” funds for BTSA and dozens of other programs however they want. According to the report, some districts have reduced their funding or assigned multiple teachers to one mentor. Others dismantled their programs, forcing their new teachers to seek Report says new teachers face ‘bumpy path’ | EdSource: