Teacher retention is an issue in education, and the loss of teachers has a direct affect on student achievement. Schools are battling the attrition of beginning teachers by the use of mentoring programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a mentoring program, according to teachers who have served as mentors,…

With teacher turnover costing the U.S. as much as $7 billion per year (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2007), and the continuing demand for qualified teachers, it is imperative for schools to increase retention rates among their faculty (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Retention efforts are especially important among novice…

The purpose of my study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of inductive teachers in secondary education. My purposive sample included 11 licensed, inductive teachers from 10 different schools spanning eight school districts within a large metropolitan area of the Pacific Northwest. I used personal interviews, within a microethnographic…

Novice teacher attrition has long been a concern among educators and policy makers who have responded with various types of induction and mentoring programs and increased efforts to recruit more teachers. Yet, these efforts have not created the stable work force needed to implement school reform efforts. The school staffing challenge is further…

Although the turnover rate among beginning teachers has been a major concern for some time, most studies do not link teacher retention with teaching practice. In contrast, this study looks specifically at career decisions coupled with practice. Guided by a view of teaching as social and cultural practice, the study used multiple qualitative data…

This narrative inquiry traces a beginning teacher's unfolding career over a six-year period in a diverse middle school in the fourth largest city in the USA. The work revolves around two conceptualizations: "stories to live by" and "stories to leave by." How these identity-related phenomena surface and play out in an…

This study addresses the question: Do the kinds and amounts of pre-service education and preparation that beginning teachers receive before they start teaching have any impact on whether they leave teaching? We examine a wide range of measures of teachers' subject-matter education and pedagogical preparation. We also compare different fields of…

This paper illuminates the experiences of beginning teachers using a participatory perspective approach and drawing on some of these teachers' perceptions. We place the "subject" of workplace learning research centrally in understanding the relatedness between workplaces and novice employees/trainees. This paper builds on previous work…

Research on teacher quality is not definitive. But, we know that developing high-quality teachers requires a multipronged approach: We need to recruit promising teachers. We need to retain and reward effective early career teachers. We need mechanisms to dismiss those who don't improve. We need to focus teacher preparation on the foundations of…

A collaborative research project that explored the impact of professional, individual and relational conditions on the resilience of early career teachers revealed the importance of understanding how they engage in the formation of professional identities. Drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical ethnography, this article…

Findings are presented from a qualitative longitudinal collective case study of 29 teachers newly appointed to rural or remote schools in Western Australia. All participants experienced stress and articulated coping strategies in response: direct-action, palliative and avoidant strategies. Where protective structures and processes existed in…

Much has been written about the need for high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers and their role in U.S. educational reform. In this article we provide evidence that beginning science and mathematics teachers need a blend of three mutually reinforcing learning opportunities for growth and sustainability:…

Beginning teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate, financially draining the nation each year (Gonzales, 2007; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future [NCTAF] & NCTAF State Partners, 2002). One method schools enact to counter this problem is to require beginning teachers to participate in induction programs which…

The study reviewed in this document examined the effects of a comprehensive teacher induction program for beginning teachers (i.e., teachers new to the profession) on teacher and student outcomes in 17 school districts across 13 states. The program includes mentoring, monthly professional development sessions, study groups with other beginning…

While most new teachers make teaching their first career after college, recent studies show that there is a substantial group of teachers who start to teach after having had one or more careers outside of education. This group of career-changers or "mid-career entrants to teaching" are perceived to be a desirable source of teaching…