(2001 - present)
Director: Fred Stevenson
The cornerstone of the retention efforts of our department's Center for Recruitment and Retention is the Induction Project. Begun in the fall of 2001, the Induction Project brings together first and second year middle and high school mathematics teachers. The goal of the project is to keep these new teachers in the profession and to assist them as they navigate their first few years. Each induction teacher is paired with a mentor at their site. In addition, they are observed monthly by one of several coaches who support their individual goals and provide meaningful, non-threatening feedback. The mentor teachers in the Induction Project, as well as the teacher in whose classrooms the tutors work, attend a weeklong summer workshop. The focus of the workshop is to foster mentoring skills, promote standards-based classrooms and build teacher leaders. In the past two years, a total of 26 teachers have been involved in the project as well as 26 induction mentors and 30 tutor mentors. This fall the success of this Induction Project and the necessity for it become overwhelmingly evident; 18 new first year teachers signed up, more than double the first year totals of the past two years. Furthermore, many of these teachers are emergency certified and have limited teaching skills. They will require a great deal of special help from coaches and mentors.