Finder

1

• Finders Keepers
• Retention from a New Teachers Lens
• John Fischetti
• Dennis Kubasko
• Robert Smith
• North Carolina Teacher Education Forum
• September 2006

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• This presentation will share the twelve major
  questions we have developed to guide our work
  with candidates as they consider accepting public
  school teaching jobs. Graduates from our
  secondary program include lateral entry teachers
  and fully licensed undergraduate and graduate
  candidates.

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Session objectives
• To share our study findings related to new
  teacher working conditions
• To discuss and share experiences with other North
  Carolina teacher education colleagues
• To brainstorm ways we might together influence
  the conditions of teachers hired for NC public
  schools.

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Teacher Education Forum 2006

• Do teacher educators have a responsibility
  to advocate on behalf of new teachers in terms of
  constantly improving their own preparation
  programs?
• Yes
• No

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Teacher Education Forum 2006

• What is the most important way teacher
  education programs can provide support to their
  graduates?
• A. To maintain informal contact by email,
  occasional conversations, online networks, etc
• B. To formally establish a support network for
  all graduates
• C. To provide formal professional development
  and connections to professional associations
• D. To offer graduate courses to allow graduates
  to continue their education

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Teacher Education Forum 2006

• From your first-hand knowledge, what issue
  is most important in your graduates abilities to
  be successful as first-year teachers?
• Classroom/lab space and/or access to resources
• Teaching load and/or content preparations
• Administrative support and collegial mentoring
• Level/prior knowledge/behavior of students
• Additional duties/extracurricular
  responsiblities/ coaching assignments

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Teacher Education Forum 2006

• Do teacher educators have a responsibility
  to advocate on behalf of new teachers, in terms
  of working with school partners on the tough
  realities of first-year teaching.
• Yes
• No

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Across North Carolina, first year
  teachers--both lateral entry and traditionally
  prepared--are accepting employment in schools
  that may or may not be conducive to their
  success. Some are staying but many are leaving
  within three years. What can we as teacher
  educators do to help guide our candidates as
  they consider where to teach?

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Will I have a classroom assigned to me or will I
  float from class to class?
• Will there be sufficient desks in my classroom
  for my students?
• Will I have more than two preparations during the
  first year?
• Will I teach a range of students or am I teaching
  only the lowest level students?
• How are those decision made?

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Will I have regular access to a lab or other
  equivalent resource to conduct experiments or
  inquiry-based projects?
• Does the lab have running water, working
  utilities, etc?
• Will I get my classroom set of textbooks and
  other curriculum materials at the start of school
  or well after the school year starts?
• Will I have a mentor in my content area?
• Is he/she a positive role model and is he/she
  optimistic about this school?

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Is there strong principal support and involvement
  to work collaboratively with me on classroom
  management and other issues first-year teachers
  typically face?
• Will I have access to an excellent and positive
  resource teacher to assist me with students who
  have IEPs and who are assigned to my classes?
• Will I have a budget to allow me to purchase
  needed supplies for my classroom and lab?
• What are the copying policies?

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

1. Do I have access to a relatively new PC or laptop
   and do I have access to a data projector to use
   regularly in my classroom?
2. Do I have the option not to coach or sponsor
   extra-curricular activities in my first year?
3. What additional hall/lunchroom/bus or other
   duties are expected of me in my first year?

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Finders KeepersRetention from a New Teachers
Lens

• Graduates leave our program with excellent
  content knowledge and a strong pedagogical
  foundation enhanced by their classroom teaching
  experiences through their internships. What we
  have found through our study is that they face
  many prerequisite obstacles to success related to
  support, resources and space that are crucial for
  any professional to be able to thrive in the
  early part of his or her career.

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• Finders Keepers
• Retention from a New Teachers Lens
• John Fischetti
• Dennis Kubasko
• Robert Smith
• Teacher Education Forum
• September 2006