The paper examines issues in special education teacher attrition and reviews a variety of induction and mentorship programs to lessen the common isolation of beginning teachers. Statistics indicating the high attrition rate among beginning teachers, especially special education teachers are cited and related to lack of training and ongoing support. Teacher induction models are compared showing that all emphasize a high level of interaction among new teachers, their colleagues, and administrators. Examples of successful mentoring programs are cited in the Houston Mathematics and Science Improvement Consortium (which matches high school science/mathematics teachers with practicing scientists and mathematicians) and the teacher induction program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (in which beginning teachers are matched with a mentor and and a university consultant). Selected state initiatives from Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, and Utah are briefly described. It is concluded that such programs can reasonably be expected to accomplish such goals as increasing the retention rate of promising beginning teachers and screening out the least promising teachers but cannot be expected to overcome major problems in the school context such as misplacements, overloads, or overcrowded classes. Forty-four references are cited. An attached bibliography on entry year induction programs and practices lists about 70 references dated from 1977 through 1988. (DB)