Policy Shapes Teaching

By Liam Goldrick, Director of Policy

 

Does public policy matter when it comes to teaching and how beginning teachers are inducted into the profession? I believe it does.

 

When it comes to shaping a desirable and supported teaching profession, federal and state government should focus its policy authority on three key variables: talent, time and trust. Let's attract and retain the best individuals as educators. Let's provide them the time to collaborate and advance their skills on the job. Let's give them our trust and the authority to make important choices and decisions about instruction that further student learning.

 

Policy influences how and whether we can attract the most talented individuals into teaching and keep them in the classroom and in the profession. Policy impacts how the school day is structured and whether teachers have time only to teach-or whether they also have time to collaborate and improve and enrich their practice. Policy affects what is taught, how it is taught, how learning is measured and how teachers and principals are held accountable for results. Those choices and decisions made in Washington, DC, in state houses, on school boards-and the messages delivered by elected leaders from their bully pulpits-affect how schools operate and how teachers do their jobs ... today and tomorrow.

 

While many bemoan government influence over local schools, sometimes it is policies not enacted that do greater harm than
any of those put into place. States make choices not to legislate or require things as often as they enact policies. We see that clearly when we look closely at teaching and specifically at how our newest teachers are hired and inducted into the profession.

 

States either require induction and mentoring assistance for new teachers-or leave it up to chance. Twenty-seven states require some form of induction and mentoring for new teachers, 23 do not. Two years ago, 17 states provided some dedicated funding for the purpose of supporting new teachers. Today, no greater than 14 do. Those choices have consequences.

 

Can important initiatives such as new teacher induction launch in the absence of state policy leadership? Yes, and they do, sometimes funded by federal or philanthropic dollars. For example, NTC works programmatically to design and implement comprehensive induction programs for new teachers in state settings that have little policy on the books. Unfortunately, such programs blossom often only in isolated pockets, frequently as a result of the individual leadership of teachers, superintendents and principals. When those leaders move on, sometimes these program crumble in their wake. Policy can provide the glue that keeps them together.

 

In our policy work at NTC, we approach new educator induction as an issue over which state policy has a critical role to play. We arrive at that point from a fundamental belief and experience, but also from careful consideration of the evidence. Research suggests that states with stronger policies increase the provision of induction support to beginning educators as well as the quality and the impact of that assistance. Academic work by the likes of Tom Smith, Morgan Polikoff, and Cynthia Carver and Sharon Feiman-Nemser suggest that policy influences the presence of and quality design of local teacher induction programs.

 

In a recent op-ed in the Hartford Courant, University of New Haven education professor Amanda Bozack drew upon NTC's 2012 Review of State Policies on Teacher Induction. She credits Connecticut's Teacher Education and Mentoring (TEAM) program that supports roughly 3,600 new educators with providing "two critical keys for success - a hands-on, trained mentor-teacher, and an opportunity to practice improving their skills in a highly structured process." Connecticut is one of only three U.S. states that requires and funds a multi-year induction program for its early-career teachers.

 

Education Week twice featured the New Teacher Center's e-Mentoring for Student Success initiative over the past month. A news article written by Stephen Sawchuk outlines the history behind the program, the particular needs in education that lead to its creation, and the ways in which the program continues to evolve. In 2002, NTC, the National Science Teachers Association, and the Science Math Resource Center came together to create the online platform for math and science teachers. The program was created to support novice specialized content area teachers isolated by geography. E-Mentoring matches each beginning teacher with an experienced peer selected through a competitive application process and trained to build trust and probe stimulating discussions online. NTC has expanded the program to support novice special education teachers. More than 1,500 teachers nationwide now benefit from the online support. Sawchuk points to a recent study linking this type of teacher support to gains in instruction and another study that found that professional development was equally effective delivered online or in person. 

 

An article on Ed Week's Rural Education blog addresses the growing support for the use of online services to benefit students, including from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who has talked about technology as a source of access and equity for rural schools.

An education task force assembled by Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter issued its final report in early September, calling on the state to provide funding for new teacher mentoring. The report made recommendations in three broad areas: Fiscal Stability, Structural Change, and Effective Teachers and Leaders (with Professional Development at all levels). Among its recommendations that impact teachers and teaching are:

• The state should fund and require each district to develop a mentoring program for new teachers based onthe Idaho Mentor Program Standards.
• The state should establish a continuum of professional growth and learning tied to educator licensure.
• The state should participate (and it is participating) in the Council of Chief State School Officers'  "Our Responsibility, Our Promise" teacher preparation initiative (in which NTC is a partner).
• School districts should restructure the traditional school day to allow for job-embedded collaboration time for educators. 

In a recent blog published by The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, Daniel J. Quinn suggests that compensation-focused policies are the wrong tool to achieve more equitable teacher distribution. The popularity of proposals such as paying high-performing teachers to move to underperforming schools is evidence that "policymakers struggle to tap into what truly motivates teachers," Quinn says. "The good news is that research on working conditions and school organizational issues provides clues as to what is likely to keep more teachers in the classroom": Principals who cultivate and embrace teacher leadership; Time and tools for teachers to learn from one another; Teaching loads that take into account the diversity of students; Supportive evaluator feedback and peer support; Conditions that allow teachers to be successful; and Teacher support and mentoring.

 

NTC's own Teaching and Learning Conditions Initiative assists states and school districts to document and analyze how teachers view their teaching and learning conditions and to identify the impact on school communities. Data collected from across the country since 2002 demonstrates three primary findings:

1. Teacher working conditions are critical for increasing student achievement;
2. Improving working conditions creates a more stable teaching force; and
3. Considerable gaps exist between the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the presence of key working conditions.

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