Abstract:

New teachers leave the profession at alarming rates. According to U.S. Department of Education data, 15% quit in their first year and roughly 50% quit within five years. Recent trends to alleviate the financial and academic burden of high teacher attrition focus on well-structured induction programs. In order to understand what works, this study examined six of the most popular and successful induction programs in use. There are dozens of new teacher induction programs cited in the literature as being successful. Unfortunately, many of these programs do not report empirical data results or any form of statistics indicating a reduction in attrition rates. However, it was possible to find retention rates for 20 programs. Discussions of six of the better-known effective programs follows, and the retention rates from all 20 programs are included. Statistical analysis including logistic regression with odds ratios and Chi-square analyses determine which induction program characteristics and combinations of characteristics are most effective.

Keywords:

Induction, retention, new teacher training, new teacher induction.