The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover new teachers' expectations of building administrator support compared to their lived experience in the first year of teaching in a new district. This study also investigated how those supports (or lack thereof) impacted their decision to stay in their current assignment, their current district,…

This quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between teacher pre-hiring effectiveness evaluation and their performance evaluation scores at the end of the first year of teaching. Prior to this study, it was not known if and to what degree teachers' scores on the Ventures for Excellence B-22 screening interview correlated to…

Supporting and retaining new teachers is an ever-growing challenge faced by school districts across the nation (Anhorn, 2008; Ingersoll & Strong, 2011; Lieberman, Saxl, & Miles, 1988; Lorti, 1975). One way that many schools approach this opportunity to support new teachers is through teacher mentoring programs (Goldrick, 2016; Gray &…

Attrition among new teachers with fewer than 5 years of experience was high in an urban high school in Texas. The high attrition rate is a problem for students, because high teacher turnover can result in teachers with low expertise. In this study, the conceptual framework used was Hord's professional learning community (PLC) model, which…

Teachers need to know a great deal, in many areas and in multiple ways. Teacher knowledge is a complex tapestry, and teachers must successfully weave the multiple threads. In this article, I present a conceptualisation of teacher knowledge that provides a framework for describing the complexity of teacher knowledge. The framework describes three…

The purpose of this exploratory research study was to investigate novice, urban, high school, special education teachers' reports of how they initiate instructional change in an inclusive environment and the instructional change situations they feel ill-equipped to address. This qualitative study was designed to fill a gap in the literature by…

This study presents how beginning teachers create and teach an English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in urban schools in the context of an educational reform movement driven by mandates such as Common Core State Standards (CCSS), high stakes tests, and prescribed curricula. They serve in schools with each using unique and individual curricula due…

Background/Context: Teach For America (TFA) affiliates with universities in most of its 40 regions nationally; however, few researchers intentionally study the content and processes of a partnership between TFA and a college of education. Purpose/Research Question/Focus of Study: To ensure that investments both organizations were making had a…

The growing emphasis on teacher accountability has led to increased integration of teacher evaluation and new teacher mentoring. This study examined professional and emotional mentoring supports within an urban school district that centered its induction program on structured teacher evaluation. Five mentors and 16 new special educators…

Professional development training raises many concerns in today's U.S. education system. Each year, education systems change. Understanding these change efforts provides school districts the opportunity to be successful in their efforts. Today's students no longer seem to benefit from one instructional approach and need an enhancement in their…

Research shows that teacher quality is the single most critical factor in whether students succeed. However, efforts to improve teacher quality are often offset by the high rates of turnover, with 40-50 percent of public school teachers leaving within the first five years, and even higher rates in schools serving less advantaged students…

Novice special educators (those in their first 3 years) consistently report their workloads are unmanageable. Yet, it is not clear whether their perceptions of workload manageability contribute to outcomes of concern such as emotional exhaustion (a component of burnout) or intentions to continue teaching in their schools and districts. This pilot…

Teacher turnover in urban schools is occurring at a breakneck pace; thus, it is important for us to understand the characteristics of teachers who stay and succeed in these settings. In order to address this need, this study examines the preparation and induction experiences of teachers who completed a Transition to Teaching- a funded urban…

Many urban public schools use teaching methods that isolate and silence children to compel compliance (Schwebel, 2004; Saltman & Gabbard, 2003; Baumrind, 1991). In these contexts, black and brown children are disciplined more often and harshly than white, sent through the court system 70% of the time (Alexander, 2012). Novice teachers,…

In urban school systems, the percentage of teachers that leave the profession is disproportionally high. Part of the driving force for this high rate of teacher turnover are alternative certification programmes, like Teach For America (TFA) which recruits teachers only for a short-term teaching commitment. This study contributes a novel…