Abstract:

It has been long established that learning to teach is a developmental process. Expectations for all teachers are high, regardless of years of experience and preparation. In the late 1990's in Oklahoma, teachers who were being hired directly from business and industry were leaving the profession at alarming rates at over 50% every three years. There are societal, and academic knowledge benefits to providing support that is individualized and focused on the new teacher. The career tech system seeks teachers that are highly skilled professionals who are experts in their subjects and/or skill area to provide business and industry with a trained workforce. Many times it seems that when industry specific experts are found, the likelihood that these individuals have pedagogical training is low. These new teachers are subject matter experts who do not have any formal training in the area of teaching. Additionally, career tech schools typically struggle to compete with industry in the area of financial compensation. These factors can lead to high rates of new teacher turnover in the Career Tech sector. As a result, a group of stakeholders began discussions and set to work to develop a strong mentoring program for this novice teachers. Since the start of the project in 2000, over 700 new teachers have been mentored in this process. This presentation will present the retention data for the last 17 years by program area taught, location of the school and other factors indicated in the research. This study sought to examine these issues and provide recommendation for participating entities on reducing turnover and focus on teaching.

Keywords:

Teachers, retention, mentoring.