Many educators are leaving their teaching positions, especially in the early years of their career. This has led many states and districts to mandate teacher mentor programs for new teachers with the hope of retaining these teachers. However, even with these mentor programs, new teachers are continuing to leave their positions, which affects the…

Teacher retention is an ongoing problem in education, especially in small private schools where resources are limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate educator perceptions of a new teacher induction and mentoring program to support first-year teachers and improve teacher effectiveness and the retention of new teachers. Cycle 1…

This qualitative study examined the impact of mentor and new teacher pairings on the self-reported benefits of a statewide mentoring program for new teachers. Participants included 147 new teachers and 89 mentors in a Midwestern, rural state. Teacher demographics included all grade levels, different content areas, job alike and job not-alike…

The recent reckoning with racial injustice that has occurred across the United States offers an ideal opportunity for state leaders and universities to address the lack of diversity among college faculty and increase their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. This report offers four recommendations for increasing faculty diversity based…

This Special Issues Brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines the unique characteristics of high-need schools, supports state and district leaders as they consider their role in implementing initiatives with a focus on equity, and explores how programs can be customized to meet the unique circumstances of a…

In 2011, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) received an Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant through the U.S. Department of Education. UAF applied for the grant to expand the predominantly rural-serving Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP) to urban settings. ASMP is a professional development initiative that supplies fully released, highly…

Are statewide college Promise programs an effective way to increase college access and success? It's hard to say. While these programs are becoming more common, they vary widely along a number of dimensions. RFA's new "Statewide College Promise Framework" is a tool that can be used to capture and compare important variation in the…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

In response to the high attrition rate of new teachers, more and more induction programs are being implemented across the country. Current financial constraints, coupled with no systematic way to coordinate resources across schools and state organizations, present a challenge to many small or poorly funded schools and districts. In this article,…

Teacher shortages have been steadily increasing across the nation, particularly in the field of special education. According to analyses conducted by the Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE), reasons for this include the fact that veteran special education teachers are retiring at a faster rate than new teachers are being…

This report reveals that the 16 member states of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) are making progress in supporting new classroom teachers, but if effective, well qualified teachers are to be recruited and retained, even greater support needs to be provided. Teachers will need more and better training as many schools cope with rising…

The need for teacher retention has prompted numerous American states to provide programs for training mentors. The goal of mentor training is to offer a support mechanism that will retain novice teachers and assist them in developing their teaching skills. Such a program is the Texas Beginning Educator Support System (TxBESS) which has supported…

This report, one of a series of evaluation reports on the New York State Mentor Teacher-Internship Program, follows the experiences of intern teachers from the first year of the Program, 1986-87, and the second year, 1987-88. Follow-up questionnaires administered to the program interns focused on: (1) their overviews of the experience of being an…

This report is the second of three annual reports to the Montana Certification Standards and Practices Advisory Council (CSPAC) on the effectiveness of mentoring new teachers. Specific research topics for the study were: (1) whether mentoring conducted under an exclusive one-on-one relationship has an effect on the new teacher's development as…