This webinar focused on big questions facing decision-makers and teams working to support a new generation of teachers. Our panel of former and current superintendents shared thoughts on where to make shifts, where to double down, and how to ensure that induction and mentoring are seen as part of a bigger strategy to support retention, growth, and leadership across the school community.

Speakers:

• Dr. Sharon Contreras, CEO, The Innovation Project, Former superintendent of Syracuse City Schools and Guilford County Schools
• Dr. Barbara Jenkins, Chief in Residence, Chiefs for Change, Former superintendent of California’s Orange County Public Schools
• Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, Superintendent, Oakland Unified School District

Highlights and takeaways:

Strong leadership and system-wide support
Effective induction and teacher retention require coordinated efforts from leadership at all levels and system-wide support structures.

• Superintendent priority: Induction programs must be prioritized by superintendents and integrated into the overall strategic plan.
• System-level focus: Induction support must involve collaboration among teachers, principals, and central office staff, taking a whole school community approach where induction is everyone’s responsibility.
• Leadership development for new teachers: First- and second-year teachers should be offered opportunities for growth as leaders, with clear career progression paths.
• Principals’ role: Principals must receive targeted training to manage and prioritize new teacher support.
• Incentivizing leadership: Financial incentives for experienced principals can stabilize schools and improve teacher retention.
• Teacher advocacy: Empowering teachers to advocate for themselves within mentorship programs enhances retention and satisfaction.

Teacher retention and support
Teacher retention is strongly influenced by effective mentorship, appropriate resources, and emotional support from leadership and colleagues.

• Teacher retention and principal support: Strong leadership and support from principals are crucial for keeping teachers, especially in hard-to-staff areas.
• Reducing teacher isolation: Ensuring teachers collaborate and have access to support systems is critical in reducing burnout.
• Professional development needs: Teachers need ongoing support in relationship-building, lesson planning, and improving instructional practices.
• Mentoring must be effective and practical: Mentorship should provide real-time, actionable feedback to new teachers. Responsive and differentiated mentoring should address possible gaps in pre-service prep, which include a focus on the fundamentals of key pedagogical concepts such as the science of reading and the science of learning and development.
• Resource allocation to differentiate support: Data should guide new teacher support, including understanding who is in the “new teacher” category, trends on why different teacher archetypes leave or struggle, and tailoring coaching and mentoring to their needs. For example, we see this frequently with developing critical supports and professional learning for new math and elementary educators.
• Beyond mentoring: Mentorship programs must evolve beyond emotional support — or worse, beyond having a “buddy” — to prioritize differentiated professional development, frequent observation, and peer feedback as the process in which to attend to different well-being needs.
• Alignment of supports: New teacher programs should be aligned across various levels of the system, including principals and central offices, to ensure consistent and adequate support.
• New ways to invest in new teacher support: Ensuring districts allocate resources effectively, such as funding for certification costs, can help teachers remain in the profession. Despite tighter budgets — professional learning must be a priority, not an afterthought.

Adapting to new generations of teachers
The new generation of teachers (especially Gen Z) brings different expectations regarding work flexibility, technology, and career progression.

• Gen Z expectations: Gen Z teachers expect flexibility, collaboration, career growth, and integration of technology in their work. This must start in the earliest stages, including how we design mentoring and induction as part of a pathway to leadership while also an opportunity for community-building.
• Teacher isolation is a major issue: Many teachers, especially new ones, are left to figure it out on their own, often without resources. Collaboration and connection are needed for all educators in the building, so leveraging professional learning communities within induction supports can not only offer spaces to build strong relationships and a sense of community, it can also mitigate some of the costs of doing everything through one-to-one structures.
• Leveraging technology: The possible promise of AI and digital tools to assist with administrative tasks, can drastically reduce teacher workload and enhance professional learning to allow more space for relational and collaborative work.
• Mentor-mentee matching continues to be vital: Matching new teachers with experienced, successful educators improves outcome, but mentoring must align with the generation, experience, unique strengths and needs of mentees.

Data-driven decision making and program effectiveness
Using data to inform decisions about teacher support and program effectiveness ensures continuous improvement and targeted interventions.

• Data-driven decisions: Schools must invest in and utilize data to guide new teacher support and track program effectiveness, including looking deeply into retention trends, growth indicators, and career mobility, and providing data on retention and induction programming to school boards.
• Surveying effectiveness: Regular feedback through surveys not only helps to refine and improve induction programs, but also is critical for developing responsive solutions that are agile and can adjust based on emerging new teacher needs and opportunities. Teachers’ experiences and feedback are as important as quantitative data in assessing program success.
• Building supportive communities: Developing and measuring the effectiveness of whether you have a supportive school community and a highly collaborative environment is a key indicator of health and success.
• Systemic responses to retention: Teacher retention is a system-wide issue that requires coordinated efforts from leadership, technology, mentorship, and financial incentives, but ultimately will be one of the best lagging data points on the effectiveness of mentoring and induction programs, especially in the first five years.

Resources:

• Guide for Effective Professional Learning Communities
• Designing for Impact: a planning guide for professional learning design
• Role of the Principal in Beginning Teacher Induction
• Phases of First-Year Teaching
• High-Quality Mentoring and Instructional Coaching Practices