Introduction
The
Georgia State University Teacher Education Graduate Induction
Program operates within the work of the Metro Atlanta
Beginning Teacher Support and Induction Consortium. The
framework for the work described in this paper is outlined
in Appendix A. The conceptual framework outlines principles
that are the foundation for all GSU induction work. At
this time, the Consortium is involved in a continuum of
work that includes
The
GSU Two-Year Induction Plan for Teacher Education Graduates
Using
the Consortium as an ongoing mechanism to integrate the
work of Consortium members in the area of teacher support
and induction (the Consortium is described in Appendix
B).
Developing
a model Community Teacher Development School (described
in Appendix C).
All
the programs have a support and a professional development
component. The purpose of this paper is to describe the
GSU Teacher Education Graduate Induction Program.
.
From
collaboration with Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County
Schools, Fulton County Schools, and Gwinnett County Schools,
it is clear that each system has an induction and mentoring
program. The systems provide orientations for beginning
teachers. Each beginning teacher in these systems has
an assigned mentor. The school systems provide mentor
selection and mentor training and guidelines for mentor/beginning
teacher activities. Some of the systems and/or schools
have full time lead mentors who work with other mentors.
GSU does not wish to duplicate or interfere with these
programs; we want to complement them. We have information
about each program to facilitate having the GSU program
be consistent. In addition to the GSU induction program,
we will participate in the system program, as requested
(e.g., DeKalb may want us to do some work with TSS mentors
who were trained years ago). GSU seminars and public web
pages also will be available to all beginning teachers
in these systems.
Program
coordination
The
Associate Dean of Education coordinates the GSU Induction
Program. An Induction Program Steering Committee of representatives
from each program plans and implements the activities
described below. The GSU Induction Program Steering Committee
meets regularly and will plan, monitor and refine the
induction program. The Metro Atlanta Consortium for Beginning
Teacher Support and Induction also meets regularly and
one part of its agenda will be the GSU induction program.
Support
Components of the Program
The
GSU Induction Program has support components and professional
development components. Three major support components
are: (1) personal and one on one contact with beginning
teachers and mentors; (2) group contact with beginning
teachers and mentors; and (3) web contact with beginning
teachers and mentors.
Personal
contact. In the first component, personal contact,
each teacher education program will designate a contact
person (who also is the steering committee member) for
its graduates. This person is available for e-mail and
telephone contact about any problem a beginning teacher
is experiencing. The contact person provides whatever
help seems appropriate which includes putting the teacher
in contact with another GSU faculty and visiting the classroom
of the teacher. Mentors and administrators also are given
information about the GSU program and also can ask for
support or provide suggestions for improvements in the
program through this contact.
Group
contact. GSU Induction Program group contact is through
three voluntary seminars for its graduates per semester,
approximately every 6 weeks. The topics will be determined
according to assessed needs of beginning teachers. These
seminars are at GSU. Seminars can be conducted in a school
system at their request. Seminars also will be conducted
for mentors, administrators, and schools, as possible
and as requested. All seminars will be developed around
the community theme, that teaching is participation in
a learning community and that beginning teachers should
be provided all the resources of the community.
Technological
contact. The purpose for the technology component
is to provide an additional dimension of access to resources,
support from experts and colleagues, and as a clearinghouse
for sharing information. Through technology, project participants
can access resources on induction at their convenience,
can be linked to a network of mentors, to experts at Georgia
State University, and to other beginning teachers who
are in their discipline. The technology resources are
designed to be another dimension of community, providing
cognitive resources as well as social and emotional support
for beginning teachers.
The
technology infrastructure consists of two parts: a public
website that provides information and support about induction
and a password protected website that provides beginning
teachers with personal information and support through
chat rooms, threaded discussion sites, and specialized
links to resources. The ‘open to the public’ website provides
information and links to resources for effective teaching,
mentoring, and model induction programs. This site is
available to beginning teachers, mentors, and anyone interested
in information and links to teaching and learning in K-12
settings sites. The site also provides links to each of
the Metro Atlanta school systems participating in the
project, links to professional organizations, and links
to the resources of the Georgia Department of Education.
http://education.gsu.edu/induction
From
the public site, participants in the induction program
can access the password protected WebCT site. This site,
the "Virtual Teachers’ Lounge", has been developed
that will permit access to information, sharing ideas,
asking for help, and storing documents related to the
project within a limited access site (see Appendix D).
The site also will house electronically collected evaluation
and assessment data. WebCT provides a threaded discussion
site that will enable beginning teachers to ask for help,
share information, and raise concerns. Although the discussion
site will be managed from Georgia State University and
University experts will be available to provide feedback
and guidance, the aim of the project is to involve beginning
teachers with a forum to support one another, exchange
ideas and classroom procedures that they are found to
be effective.
The
WebCT site also offers chat rooms that will be scheduled
for synchronous interactions related to topics chosen
by the beginning teachers (a picture of the chat room
site is in Appendix D). For example, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
an expert on working with parents might lead a discussion
designed to prepare beginning teachers for upcoming parent
teacher conferences. Or, in some occasions, the beginning
teachers may decide to have a discussion on certain issues
without the experts. For other topics, the threaded discussion
site is available to provide an asynchronous opportunity
to ask questions, raise concerns, or share information
or successes. Both, the threaded discussion site and chat
rooms, offer the advantage of capturing and archiving
the discussions and interactions. Because WebCT is password
protected, the questions and comments of the participants
are accessible only to those in the induction project.
The
WebCT site also provides a calendar (see Appendix D) for
personal use or to post public announcements of coming
events (such as conferences, workshops, and meetings).
The site houses project records and documents, such as
minutes of meetings, committee reports, and professional
articles on teacher induction. The WebCT site also serves
as a library on best practices in teaching. It contains
links to video clips on effective teaching and, as the
project evolves, will include examples from beginning
teachers and their mentors of their own best teaching
practices.
Professional
development component
The
professional development component of the induction program
cannot be distinguished completely from the support components,
but the second year’s program focus is on teacher growth
in bringing students to high standards of learning. Seminars,
online discussion sites, and chat rooms will be focused
on facilitating and assessing student learning and reflecting
and using assessment data to guide instruction. GSU graduates
will be familiar with a model for assessing teacher impact
on student learning (see Appendix E), and this model and/or
school system requirements will be used as a framework
for professional development. Meeting all INTASC standards
for beginning teachers also will be emphasized in program
activities.
During
the entire program, the Consortium and GSU Steering Committee
will identify events such as conferences that have professional
development value for mentors and beginning teachers.
GSU also may develop events held at GSU, such as a book
group for English graduates. These events can help develop
a community of teachers/learners focus.
Assessment
of teacher development
A
part of the professional development component is assessing
the impact of GSU graduates on pupil learning after two
years of teaching. GSU has no way to compel its graduates
to provide assessment information, so we will tap into
whatever data the school systems are collecting regarding
impact. We have made contacts with each system and as
they develop their assessment programs, we will develop
ways of accessing those data with the cooperation of the
school systems. If we believe that we need an additional
assessment component for GSU graduates, the school systems
have agreed to work with us for the teachers to get Staff
Development Units for participation. This process and
details are evolving, but the induction program has determined
some guidelines for this process.
The
assessment component is framed in regard to the following
questions: Are the graduates of the College of Education
at Georgia State University effective in bringing their
pupils to high standards of learning? How will that be
assessed in the Induction Model?
The following work guided recommendations:
- Teacher
effectiveness has long-term impacts on pupil learning.
(Sanders and Horn, 1998)
- The
climate for teacher accountability is upon us and must
be addressed in regard to pupil learning. (Schalock,
1998)
- Teacher
candidate assessment must be authentic and within the
context of pupil learning. (Darling-Hammond and Snyder,
1999)
- Assessment
of teacher effectiveness on pupil learning is a PROCESS
that includes multiple types of evaluations with multiple
evaluators. (Darling-Hammond and Snyder, 1999)
The
GSU induction program has a four-pronged assessment with
a focus on the process to address the professional development
needs of the GSU graduate. Outcome data from assessments
will be used to assist the individual graduate to develop
professional growth, as well as set up a feedback loop
for the process of reflecting and revising our teacher
education programs. The focus is on formative assessment
and not evaluation of the teachers. The assessment processes
acknowledge the limitations of any and all assessment
processes including the training of the assessors, the
reliability and validity of assessment instruments, and
the effectiveness of the Induction Model. Assessment includes:
1.
A Reflective Process for Professional Development. The
outcome of this prong of the assessment process would
be the self-reflection and mentor evaluation combining
to develop professional outcomes for the GSU graduate.
Documentation would be maintained to assess growth of
the GSU graduate over the two year time period. Second
year seminars and chat room will focus on teacher reflection;
for example, a mentor chat room may be focused on asking
question to promote reflection or a beginning teacher
seminar may focus on using reflection to develop instruction.
The GSU graduates would be very familiar with reflection
from their experiences with the model (see Appendix E)
used in the teacher education program.
2.
A Teacher Work Sample (TWS). The TWS would be a continuation
of the type of assessment used in the GSU teacher education
programs during the student teaching experience (see Appendix
E). It would be the process and product of developing
and implementing a 3 to 5 week unit of content material.
The TWS would be assessed using a rubric by a team of
content and pedagogical professionals. The TWS would include
the following:
- Documentation
of the context of the teaching unit. (Content and classroom
based)
- Documentation
of the planning process of a teaching unit.
- Documentation
of the implementation of plans (videotape)
- Documentation
of pupil learning (appropriate pre and post assessment
of content)
- Documentation
of reflection on the teaching and learning process
- Documentation
of using assessment data to guide instruction
3.
School System Assessment Data. As the school systems
develop ways of assessing the impact of teachers on student
learning, we will access those data as one part of the
whole assessment system. For example, in Fulton County,
the Continuous Improvement Plan for teachers must include
objectives and results for student achievement. GSU will
collect those data for its graduates. In Gwinnett, the
process is centered on setting professional goals, and
student achievement is one goal addressed.
4.
Pupil Assessment Data. A Post Hoc analysis of the
standardized pupil assessment data required by the county
and state would be made to determine impact on pupil learning.
The analysis would be made with all limitations noted.
Feasibility of such data analysis is being investigated
and what the process would be to carry out such a study.
Other
Processes
At
the end of student teaching/internship, the following
data are collected for graduates
- Data
on teacher impact on student learning
- Self
evaluation based on the INTASC standards (see Appendix
E)
- College
supervisor evaluation based on the INTASC standards
- Supervising
teacher evaluation based on the INTASC standards
- These
data are baseline data for determining teacher growth
over the first two years of teaching.
At
the end of the student teaching/intern experience, GSU
also conducts a mandatory introduction to the induction
program and provides packets with contact names, web page
information, chat room topics, dates for seminars, etc.
At that session, we will collect information regarding
employment from those who are employed and distribute
post cards to be completed and sent to us upon employment.
Follow-up phone calls and information from the school
systems will provide missing information. Graduates will
complete an assessment of their anticipated needs as beginning
teachers.
Several
methods will be used to determine employment venues of
our graduates: contact by telephone; inquiries to school
systems; school system beginning teacher orientation data;
As we determine employment, we will send letters to their
principals with a packet of information regarding the
induction program (Appendix F).
The
school systems have agreed that GSU can meet with their
graduates and mentors during the system beginning teacher
orientation. Packets with information regarding the induction
program for mentors will be distributed there. Packets
and letters to mentor teachers (Appendix H) are sent with
the same information if contact is not made at the orientation
or if employment begins in the middle of the school year.
The
GSU Induction Program is collaborating with the GSU Principal
Center in an effort to educate administrators regarding
the importance and processes of teacher induction. The
Consortium is hosting a four hour workshop in November
and will continue to have at least one presentation there
a year. The Principal Center also has distribution access
to all Georgia principals and can help provide information
about our program to principals.
GSU
will make an effort to place student teachers at schools
with high numbers of beginning teachers, so that the college
supervisor can provide regular contact at the school.
We also will try to place administrative interns at such
schools. We may build TSS training into our graduate programs
and use the internship for mentoring GSU graduates. What
we are trying to do is connect as many elements of our
teacher education programs as possible.
Program
Evaluation
The
program evaluation process will provide data for rational
planning, decision-making, and judgments about whether
to continue, modify, or expand the Beginning Teacher Induction
Program. Evaluation will be an ongoing, internal, formative
process. Evaluation is designed to:
- Assess
beginning teacher progress and the effectiveness of
program components.
- Facilitate
intelligent judgments by decision makers.
- Describe
the working processes of the program and the perspectives
and values of key stakeholders.
- Describe
the effects of the program and identify the specific
causes of the effects.
- Provide
usable findings for stakeholders and program participants.
- Provide
useful feedback to GSU teacher education programs.
The
program evaluation process is designed to answer the following
questions:
- What
parts of the program need attention?
- How
can the program be improved?
- How
can the program become more efficient and effective?
- How
effective is the program?
- What
does the program look like and accomplish?
- What
is happening in the program?
- To
what extent has the program been implemented as designed?
- To
what extent is the program meeting its goals?
- What
resources are needed to replicate the model?
- To
what extent can the program be scaled up and applied
to a wider population?
The
evaluation is primarily a pilot and feasibility study.
The program evaluation process will analyze individual
components of the program and periodically monitor the
program. Because the program is entering a pilot phase,
the study assumes a limited availability of human, financial,
and material resources. Whenever possible, the program
evaluation process will use existing data collected to
document student achievement and assess new teacher personal,
career, and professional growth needs.
Methods
include surveys distributed to all people participating
in the pilot program (new teachers, mentors, school leaders,
and support people) at various times during the program.
- Survey
1 (Beginning Teacher to assess the critical early
stages of the program)—Short, open-ended survey focusing
on knowledge of the program, training and efficacy with
their role in the program, needs from the program, and
expectations from the program. New teachers will also
be asked to reflect on their primary needs in terms
of support as a new teacher. (Appendix G)
- Survey
2 (Mentors to assess early stages of the program)—
Short, open-ended survey focusing on knowledge of the
program, training and efficacy with their role in the
program, needs from the program, and expectations from
the program.
- Survey
3 (beginning teachers, mentors, school leaders,
and support people at the end of the first semester)—Scaled
response survey on the effectiveness of all aspects
of the program.
- Survey
4 (beginning teachers, mentors, school leaders,
and support people at the end of the first year)—Detailed
scaled response questionnaire on multiple components
of the program.
Methods
also include
- Interviews—On-going
informal interviews will be conducted with program participants
throughout the process. Randomly selected teachers,
mentors, and administrators will be formally interviewed
at the beginning of the second year.
- Focus
Groups—A selected group of consortium members, program
support people, beginning teachers, school administrators,
and mentors will meet at the end of each stage to discuss
what is working and to identify problems.
- Exit
Interviews—If possible, interviews from teachers in
the program who decide to leave the profession will
be conducted.
Archival
Data includes:
- List
of all GSU graduates who obtain Georgia T-4 Certification.
- Employment
location of all graduates.
- Number
of beginning teachers in each local district at the
beginning of the year and the number who return for
a second and third year (district retention rates)
- Retention
rates for all GSU graduates.
- Retention
rates for all beginning teachers in the program.
- Retention
rates for all beginning teachers in the same district
who do not participate in the program.
- If
possible, attendance data for beginning teachers in
the program.
- If
possible, teacher evaluation results from all beginning
teachers and beginning teachers participating in the
program.
