Preparation and support of new teachers

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Teacher turnover in public schools, especially among new and early-career teachers, is estimated to cost more than $7 billion a year. Research on teacher quality has identified various types of support used to help keep teachers in their schools beyond their first year of teaching, including access to mentors in the same subject area and participation in induction activities, such as planning and collaboration with other teachers.

This report, How well prepared and supported are new teachers? Results for the Northwest Region from the 2003/04 Schools and Staffing Survey, summarizes responses from the 2003/04 Schools and Staffing Survey by public school teachers in the Northwest Region who began teaching sometime during 1999–2003. The report serves as a baseline for interpreting the 2007/08 Schools and Staffing Survey and focuses on questions about pre-service coursework, preparation for essential classroom roles, and perceived level of support during the first year of teaching. The Northwest responses are compared to teacher responses nationwide.

Survey findings include:

• An estimated 24 percent of teachers in the Northwest Region had no more than five years of teaching experience in 2003/04, compared with about 26 percent nationally.

• Fifty-six percent of teachers had completed 5 or more methods courses compared to 46 percent of all teachers in the United States.

• Nationally, and in all Northwest Region states, at least two-thirds of teachers reported being well prepared or very well prepared for teaching subject matter and using a variety of instructional methods.

• Nationally, less than two-thirds of teachers reported being well prepared or very well prepared for classroom management or discipline. The same was found for teachers in the Northwest Region states except for Oregon, where exactly two-thirds of teachers reported being well or very well prepared.

• Less than two-thirds of teachers describe themselves as well prepared or very well prepared for using computers for instruction both nationally and in all Northwest Region states.

• Teachers reported receiving various forms of support during their first year of teaching, including induction, reduced teaching schedule, reduced number of preparations, common planning time, classes/seminars for new teachers, classroom assistance, and supportive communication. Compared to the percent of teachers nationally, the percent of teachers in Northwest Region states who reported receiving these forms of support were 2 to 14 percentage points lower (depending on the type of support).

• As part of teacher preparation, 93 percent of teachers had completed coursework on selecting and adapting instructional materials, 97 percent had completed coursework in learning theory or psychology appropriate to the ages of their students, and 96 percent had observed other teachers and received formal feedback on their teaching. These percentages are somewhat higher than for all teachers in the United States.

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