IMPROVING THE PREPARATION, RECRUITMENT, INDUCTION AND RETENTION
OF TEACHERS IN URBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS
WHEREAS, at the end of the current 2003-2004 school
year over 200,000 teachers, nearly 7 percent of the 3 million non-retiring
teaching workforce, will leave the profession and not return in the fall, and
the rate of teacher attrition is 50 percent higher in high-poverty schools than
wealthier schools; and
WHEREAS, almost half of all new teachers quit within
five years which is one out of every two new teachers leaving the profession
and about 14 percent of beginning teachers quit in their first year; and
WHEREAS, the United States must add approximately
240,000 teachers each year to adequately meet the needs and demands of teacher
attrition and retirement, rising student enrollment, and the requirements of
the No Child Left Behind Act; and
WHEREAS, the conservative cost estimates for school
systems to replace teachers who drop out of the profession is more than $2.6
billion annually; and
WHEREAS, developing and retaining teachers is a
national equity impact on student learning, and every student deserves an
effective, high-quality professional if they are to reach the high standards we
expect them to achieve; and
WHEREAS, comprehensive high-quality induction (professional development, training and
assessment during at least the first two years of full-time teaching) costs
roughly $4,000 per new teacher annually, it has been shown that this process
provides a return on investment of about 37 percent by reducing new teacher
attrition, improving the quality of teaching, and raising student achievement
and only about 1 percent of new beginning receive comprehensive induction;
and
WHEREAS, most teacher preparation programs in colleges
and universities do not provide a significant number of learning experiences in
schools and communities during a four or five-year program nor do many focus on
preparing beginning teachers for urban assignments; and
WHEREAS, the majority of teacher preparation programs
at colleges and universities do not integrate course work from the variety of
disciplines offered by arts and sciences, education and other appropriate
schools or departments to maximize the institution’s resources for this
preparation process; and
WHEREAS, individuals who decide to take the
alternative certification route to teaching must also have comparable
experiences to be prepared for the classroom as well as being enrolled in an
ongoing induction program that includes master teacher mentoring to be equipped
to handle the educational needs of students; and
WHEREAS, research shows that new teachers require
between 3 and 7 years to fully develop their skills to a level that
consistently impacts student learning and achievement, and more rapidly develop
skills and more effectively teach if they participate in a comprehensive
induction program; and
WHEREAS,
high-quality induction programs will increase teacher retention and
develops new teachers by including structured mentoring, common planning time,
intensive professional development, participation in a teacher network outside
of the school in which they are teaching, and a standards-based assessment and
evaluation of every beginning teacher; and
WHEREAS,
mayors should have a role in the preparation, recruitment, induction and
retention of teachers as part of the economic development and revitalization
strategy for their city because education is a critical building block to the
future vitality and survival of our cities; and
WHEREAS,
mayors should take a leadership role in organizing the key stakeholders who
must participate in a partnership that provides the resources to establish
effective high-quality teacher preparation, recruitment, induction and
retention programs within their city’s urban school system(s),
NOW,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED; that The U.S. Conference of Mayors urges mayors
to become more active in the processes that influence the preparation,
recruitment, induction and retention of teachers in their city’s schools; and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages urban
school systems to use funds from Title II of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (now the No Child Left Behind Act) to provide comprehensive
induction to all beginning teachers during at least their first two years of
teaching; and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S.
Conference of Mayors requests that Congress as part of the reauthorization of
the Higher Education Act (HEA) amend Title II of the law to require all
partnership grant recipients (postsecondary institutions and school districts)
to include in comprehensive induction the quality criteria mentioned above, and
over and above the current grant funding for retention and professional
development of K-12 teachers; and
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors strongly recommends
that policies and programs need to be put into place or enhanced at the
federal, state and local levels that provide incentives for individuals to
enter and remain in the teaching and education profession, especially from
pre-kindergarten through high school. These might include forgiveness of
student loans, housing benefits or subsidies, tax credits or deductions,
community retail discounts, childcare subsidies, and local banking privileges;
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors requests the
Congress to provide the new funding required to ensure that every new teacher
in our nation’s highest need schools receives the support and training, and has
quality work conditions necessary to continue to teach in our urban schools.
Projected Cost:
Roughly $2 billion is the cost for implementing a comprehensive induction
program nationally which includes an approximate increase in the federal
education dollars of $500 million targeted to new teacher induction for our
highest need schools. The rest would be
state and local funding.
©2004 U.S. Conference of Mayors 