NTC State Induction Policy Review

From its inception, the New Teacher Center has based its work on a combination of policy, practice and research.  Within that context it strives to influence policy related to beginning teacher and administrator induction programs. In addition, in the last several years, the NTC has consulted with a number of states on issues related to state education policy. With support from the Joyce Foundation, the NTC is currently recruiting to fill a position of Director of Policy to advocate for Induction nationwide. 

Arising out of a policy session at the 2006 Symposium, there was a suggestion that the NTC develop a resource for those involved in state policy and those who are interested in advocacy around this topic.  The following information represents a first step providing background and a snapshot of current policy in some of the states in which we have contacts.  The objectives are:

• To provide an overview of development and current status of policy in a number of states
• To inform those who operate in the policy arena
• To allow states to learn from each other in this context

States Participating in the Survey:

• Alaska
• California
• New Jersey
• Michigan
• Virginia
• Washington

Additional Resources

Additional information on state policy, across states, can be found at the following sites:

Education Week (Volume 27 Issue 17) published a Report entitled “Quality Counts at 10: A Decade of Standards based Education” which includes state by state evaluations of education parameters.   
http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2006/01/05/index.html

Education Week also published an analysis of gubernatorial education agendas for 2005 with anticipated priorities for 2006. 

NCTAF published a report in August 2005 entitled "Induction into Learning Communities" which covers important induction issues both in the US and abroad and provides interesting data. http://www.nctaf.org/article/index.php?g=0&c=4&sc=17&ssc=&a=380&navs=

The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification hosts a “Knowledgebase.”  It requires a subscription.  It offers an overview of requirements for teacher certification in the US, Canada and New Zealand including information on professional development and teacher induction. http://www.nasdtec.info/

The Education Commission of the States offers a summary of state policy related to NCLB.  http://ecs.org/

The Teacher Assistance Corps was formed by the U.S. Department of Education to work with states on implementation of highly qualified teacher provisions.  Their website documents a number of induction programs.
http://www.teacherquality.us/Public/PublicHome.asp

The Center for Education Policy has a number of interesting publications, including “From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act” an analysis of how NCLB is being implemented at the state, district and local level.  It also has reports on education in California and Michigan.  http://www.ctredpol.org/nclb/

Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics offers some data on states in comparison to US average in terms of number of schools, number of students, spending on education, etc.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/stateprofiles/ 

The National Association of School Boards of Education offers data on school education-related issues
http://www.nasbe.org/educational_issues/state_statistics.htm

For further information on policy issues at the New Teacher Center, please contact Janet Gless (teacher induction) jgless@ucsc.edu or Gary Bloom (administrator induction) gsbloom@ucsc.edu. If you have suggestions for additional resources which should be included on this site, please contact Christina Wynings cwynings@ucsc.edu.