Overview

The New Teacher Center @ UCSC is a national resource focused on teacher and administrator induction. America’s schools are now welcoming record numbers of new educators. Typically, the newest teachers are placed in the most difficult classes in the neediest schools. Not surprisingly, many of their educational careers will not survive this trial by fire. In contrast, the New Teacher Center (NTC) has a demonstrable record of achievement, with long-term new teacher retention rates as high as 95%, compared to a nationwide dropout rate of nearly 50%.

The NTC rests its foundation upon the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project (SCNTP), established in 1988, as a systematic, mentor-based teacher induction model. In working with new teachers and, more recently, new principals, the NTC induction programs help novices not only to survive their early years, but to emerge as confident, skilled professionals. The NTC’s unique induction model helps novice educators maintain a strategic focus on student learning and classroom instruction with the guidance of highly trained and supported mentors. The NTC works with new and veteran educators, researchers, and policy makers to support the development of strong induction models by providing resources and programs that address effective mentoring and supervision practices, issues of equity, using student data to improve instruction, and strategies for meeting the needs of English Language Learners.

Using an integrated, collaborative approach, the NTC strives to support essential research, well-informed policy, and thoughtful practice that encourage teacher development from preservice throughout the career of a teacher.