This digest examines considerations and strategies for selecting and retaining teacher mentors, suggesting that the degree to which mentors are meaningfully engaged in the mentoring process may have a significant impact on a program's success. Strategies for recruiting mentors range from opportunistic appointment to promoting self-nomination to…

Nine articles by California educators are included in this guidebook for the planning and implementation of beginning teacher support programs, with a focus on improving teacher quality and retention. An explicit relationship between the conceptual framework and the operational program increases the effectiveness of such programs. Chapters titles…

New U.S. teachers are challenged to educate diverse learners in an increasingly complex knowledge-based, technology-oriented society. Often, new teachers receive little support from colleagues or professional development. Many low-wealth urban districts with acute shortages are turning toward beginning teacher induction programs to keep new…

Though the benefits of working with families are documented, teacher education programs and school districts offer limited educational opportunities to new teachers. Until recently, most state certification departments did not require courses on family involvement in preservice education. During the late 1990s, the number of states requiring that…

This digest focuses on the evolution of beginning teacher induction programs over the past two decades, and discusses the reasons why such programs are essential to the professional development of teachers. An overview is presented of existing induction programs, and observed outcomes of these programs are briefly discussed. In considering what…

This guidebook contains abstracts of papers by the following authors: (1) Michael D. Andrew; (2) Herman E. Behling, Jr.; (3) Ken Carlson; (4) Frederic R. Cyphert and John E. Nichelson; (5) Barbara Dubitsky; (6) David H. Florio; (7) Eva C. Galambos; (8) Hendrik D. Gideonse; (9) Gary A. Griffin; (10) Martin Haberman; (11) Gene Hall, Walter Doyle,…

This digest describes teacher mentoring and its different applications. A list of 10 characteristics and activities inherent in any mentor-protege relationship is provided. A discussion is presented on the ways that mentoring, an essentally informal process, has been formalized in business firms and school systems. In considering the benefits that…

This monograph focuses upon how teacher induction programs affect the professional maturation of the beginning teacher. In a discussion on the elements that make a good induction program, a checklist of eight program characteristics is presented. Four of these show the influence of other professions, and the remaining four apply directly to the…

This two-page information review explores the controversy over the question of what beginning teachers must know to teach effectively and outlines a tentative definition of "essential knowledge" for first-year teachers. Eleven references are listed. (JD)

The articles in this monograph provide a framework for reflecting on a variety of educational issues. In section one the historical roots of teacher education are examined. The second section deals more directly with what a teacher is and how the definitional properties of "the teacher" begin to dictate a curriculum for teacher…

Teacher mentoring programs have increased dramatically since the early 1980s as a vehicle to support and retain novice teachers. However, researchers and facilitators of mentoring programs are recognizing that mentors also derive substantial benefits from the mentoring experience. This digest examines research on how mentoring contributes to the…

This digest examines the spread of mentoring in the United States, obstacles to realizing the potential of mentoring as a vehicle of reform, needed research, and selected issues of policy and practice. While the education community understands that mentors have a positive effect on teacher retention, the question of what mentors should do, what…

This report examines recent trends in the establishment of state-level policies for beginning teacher evaluation and supervision. The state role in defining the experiences and clinical preparation of beginning teachers increased substantially during the 1980s; there are, however, important differences in how states approach this responsibility.…

This guide assembles examples of staff development used by one large school district, Los Angeles Unified School District, to prepare teachers for the new role of mentor. In an effort to help mentors get off to a good start, the district's Professional Development Center assembled a 30-hour program of discussion panels, skill training, and problem…

The themes of teacher autonomy, practical experience, and program rigor are manifest explicitly and implicitly throughout these papers prepared for the National Commission for Excellence in Teacher Education. Both the problems and resolution approaches presented under each theme suggest what can and must occur in teacher education to enhance the…