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Spotlight on Simmons

Simmons Addresses Exodus of New Teachers

An unabridged version of this article appears in the summer 2006 edition of the Simmons magazine, the Simmons College alumnae/i magazine.

By Janelle Randazza

When 1998 Simmons graduate Michelle Bowman started teaching seven years ago, the middle-school English teacher got a lot more than she bargained for. Bowman expected crowded classrooms, limited resources, and standardized tests. She was dismayed, however, by the lack of support from her school's administration and the isolation she felt as a new teacher.

"I had no one. I was completely isolated, completely alone," said Bowman, who also received a master's degree in education from Simmons in 1999.

For Bowman, who now teaches at the San Jose Unified School District in San Jose, Calif., the education she received at Simmons got her through a tough first year of teaching.  She says Simmons's innovative internship and teacher training program increased her confidence and her ability to hold her own in a large school district of more than 32,000 students and 57 schools.

Bowman's experience is all too common these days for new teachers, and it is causing a national crisis. Indeed, according to the National Education Association, one out of every two new teachers will leave their jobs within their first five years of teaching.

During the last decade, the U.S. has focused on training more teachers, using accelerated programs and incentives such as certification waivers and recruiting bonuses, but the subject of teacher retention received little attention. The result has been what education experts call a "sieve" effect, with new teachers pouring into schools, but too few remaining for the long haul.

"There are a lot of fast-track teacher training programs," said Lynda Johnson, assistant dean of Simmons's education department. "But what has been shown is that teachers who come from these programs struggle the most. When new teachers have no preparation and are placed in difficult schools, why would anyone assume otherwise? It begs for a full culture change and a more comprehensive model of new teacher support."

Research shows that comprehensive induction — a method of welcoming new teachers and incorporating them into schools through structured mentoring and intensive professional development — can cut teacher attrition rates in half. A proponent of induction, Johnson edited an anthology on teacher mentoring called Mentoring Works: A Sourcebook for School Leaders. She said this process also helps shape new teachers into highly skilled professionals, and can help retain experienced teachers by providing opportunities for growth and for leadership roles.

"What other profession has the expectation that you will enter your career with the same level of responsibility you will have on your last day? Without support, teaching can be a lonely job. Induction is the ultimate opportunity for changing the culture of our schools," said Johnson.

Simmons is embracing this opportunity.  Placing an inexperienced student teacher with a co-teacher is at the core of Simmons's unusual yearlong education internship program. As Johnson explains, Simmons students receive comprehensive training, work experience, and support. The Simmons supervisor or "coach" provides support and assesses the student teacher, visiting his/her classroom at least six times a semester.

During her graduate work, Bowman was paired with a tenured teacher at a school in Boston. She believes the extensive feedback she received on her teaching and classroom management helped refine her teaching philosophy and more rapidly develop her skills as an educator.

"Students in Simmons's program have an opportunity to feel like they can stretch and grow under the tutelage of someone," said Johnson. "We give them a full year of teaching in a classroom - unusual in most teach training programs, where they take on full responsibility for a class, and where their supervisor holds up a mirror and asks hard questions early on. Our goal is to have the students ready and able to hold up their own mirror by the end of their practicum." The outcome of this kind of training is that most Simmons education graduates remain in the field, and many return to become educational leaders.

In Carl Gersten's experience, strong leadership is another important element in retaining teachers.

"I work for a principal who is a wonderful educator and a wonderful person. A boss can make or break a job; in the end, the principal defines the culture of the school," said Gersten, a 1997 graduate of the Simmons education program.

Gersten has taught in the Brookline Public Schools for nearly a decade and came to the profession after working at IBM for 12 years. He says the corporate salary he eschewed pales in comparison to the rewards he receives as a teacher.

"It's hard work; it's harder than working at IBM because there is an entire emotional piece to the job. As a teacher, interacting with kids means you are interacting with their lives. There is a lot more soul searching in teaching than in being a systems analyst!" said Gersten.

This soul searching, said Johnson, is paramount when describing the Simmons philosophy of leadership. Johnson says that schools need to consider a "psychic paycheck," that is, things that motivate teachers beyond monetary compensation. To Johnson, a good educational leader needs to create a "psychic paycheck" for everyone on his or her staff.

Associate Professor of Education Dr. James Walsh was the superintendent of schools in Brookline, Mass., when his district developed an educational partnership with Simmons in the early 90s. Walsh says he has seen Simmons graduates enter the field with the confidence and the training to succeed.

"One of the reasons the Simmons program is so successful is that students and faculty feel valued, and it results in an excellent learning culture. It really translates into how Simmons graduates teach, and it gives them a respect for the profession which, in turn, makes people more likely to stay and grow in the profession," said Walsh.

Johnson believes that a teacher's first classroom experience can create a lasting impact, determining how they view the education profession as a whole. She views the crisis of teacher attrition as an opportunity for the teaching community to work together to build a workforce that will engage, inspire, and endure.

"This is a national challenge, and it can't be solved by any one group alone," she says. "Higher education, unions, school districts, and teachers - everyone needs to do their part and work together on this critical issue, because teachers are the most important part of education."

To help support and retain new teachers, Simmons teamed up with Teachers21 — a nonprofit educational consulting group that works to strengthen teacher quality — and launched the Beginning Teacher Center (BTC) in 1999. The BTC works to increase retention of new teachers, improve teacher skills and confidence, and promote dialogue among school systems, state agencies, and colleges to ensure responsive training techniques. Today, the center offers courses and consulting, and supports mentorship for new teachers in 170 communities throughout New England.

Education professionals from across the nation will convene at Simmons March 25-27 to discuss the crisis in recruiting and retaining beginning teachers; the conference is organized in collaboration with the Beginning Teacher Center and Teachers21.  For more information, visit conference website.