Santa Cruz / Silicon Valley New Teacher Project
BTSA Induction Program

MISSION STATEMENT

The primary purpose of the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project is to assist and support new teachers as they enter the teaching profession and to advance their skills and knowledge in relation to the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP). This collaborative model focuses on improving classroom practice and on developing reflective teachers who are responsive to the diverse cultural, social and linguistic backgrounds of all students.

Goals

The primary goal of the NTP is to provide a program of support and assessment in which the advancement of skills and knowledge is a continuous flow from preservice through the first two year of teaching and beyond.

The New Teacher Project has worked to develop an interactive and authentic model of teacher assessment in order to provide the most effective support to beginning teachers. Support strategies and practices promote teacher autonomy through the ongoing and recursive processes of self-assessment, inquiry into practice, reflection, and planning. This fully integrated and formative model of support and assessment assists teachers in moving their practice forward.

• To develop teacher capacity as defined in the California Standards for the Teaching Profession
• To direct support toward improving student achievement
• To use formative assessment practices to guide support
• To document professional growth over time
• To model and encourage ongoing self-assessment and reflection
• To foster collaboration and leadership among teachers

Program Components

A major component of the New Teacher Project is intensive individual support to beginning teachers during their first two years of teaching. A strong, supportive relationship between the advisor and beginning teacher is fundamental to the success of all support strategies.

Key Elements of Beginning Teacher Support

• New Teacher Advisor:
  New teachers have weekly on-site contact during and after school hours with an advisor, who is an exemplary veteran teacher released full-time specifically to support a small group of teachers. Advisors observe and coach the new teacher, offer emotional support, assist with short and long-term planning, design classroom management strategies, teach demonstration lessons, provide curriculum resources, and facilitate communication with the principal. Advisors and new teachers keep an interactive journal to enhance communication, problem solve and reflect.  
  
  
• Formative Assessment
  Support is guided by an ongoing cycle of formative assessment which revolves around the development of each teacher's district goals/individual learning plan. A professional portfolio serves as the vehicle for documenting the teacher's growth over time.
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• Professional Development for Beginning Teachers:
  • Workshop/Seminar Series:
    The monthly seminars are designed to build a support network and ongoing professional dialogue among beginning teachers, and are developed to assist teachers with meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse student population. Each seminar provides teachers with an opportunity to learn about the CSTP in the context of effective teaching strategies and reflect on learnings with other beginning teachers. Content standards are emphasized.
    
    
  • Release Time:
    Release time is provided to new teachers to observe veteran teachers, plan curriculum, attend professional development trainings, and assess their progress.

Project Benefits

Research shows that with this type of intensive support, new teachers demonstrate higher levels of professional competence and greater success in working with culturally and linguistically diverse students.  In addition, studies report increased job satisfaction and retention.  After six years, fewer than five percent of NTP teachers have left the profession. This contrasts with a nationwide attrition rate of nearly fifty percent.

The NTP program of integrated support and assessment creates an atmosphere that encourages teachers to develop norms and standards of professional collegiality, inquiry, reflection, and assessment.  This process of formative, ongoing assessment within a community of practice is an essential component of teacher development and school reform.  NTP new teachers develop the expectation that teaching is collegial, that teaching is a continuous cycle of teaching, assessment, reflection, and planning, and that learning to teach is a life-long process.

For more information on NTP research studies, join our free Network of Researchers on Teacher Induction (NORTI) where you can read and download copies of the research studies.