Research on Teacher Induction & Mentoring- Highlights from AERA Conference

Teacher induction and mentoring is a hot topic in education, and I sought out talks that related closely to teacher relationships and networks. The following were some papers and presentations that posed some interesting findings and ideas:

Morgan Polikoff, a doctoral student working with Dean Andy Porter at the University of Pennsylvania GSE reported on his research about the range of mentoring that teachers receive in schools. One interesting pattern that emerged in his study was that mid-career changers tended to have been paid less attention to by their principals, and received less time in mentoring.  In interviews, principals seemed to infer that they believed that these older teachers could handle things better with less support because they were more mature and had more life experience.  From a social network perspective, I wondered if these teachers had more established social roots in the community and school that might have provided additional social support that first-career new teachers may not have.

Dr. Richard Ingersoll, also a professor at the University of Pennsylvania was the discussant at Mr. Polikoff’s session. He noted that we had “come a long way” in developing induction practices, but that we had a long way to go in breaking some of the entrenched beliefs around isolationism and “sink or swim” policies.  He urged continued research on this front and to realize what we have learned through policies and programs in schools.

In another session on Teacher Recruitment and Hiring, members of the research team on the Michigan-Indiana Early Career Teacher (MIECT) study project reported some early findings.

Erin Grogan (Doctoral Student at Michigan State University) looked at the differences between the way charter schools and public schools recruit teachers. She noted that previous research has found that districts and schools that use a range of strategies for recruitment were most successful in teacher recruitment.   Surprisingly, she noted that traditional public schools were more likely to use a range of innovative incentive strategies than Charter schools.  

 

Her findings were brought into a larger discussion led by Dr. Edward Liu of Rutgers University.   Ms. Grogan noted that, when she talked with principals and other administrators, the reality was that teachers were primarily sought and recruited through social networks – if the principal or administrator knew them prior to their application, say, for example, if they were substitute teachers beforehand. 

Dr. Liu mentioned that it was sometimes unclear what aspect of recruitment and placement strategies (the written policy or the “unwritten” but socially accepted policies) “trumped” the shaping of decisions made by administrators as to who they recruit and hire. Further, teachers’ decisions to apply to a particular school are equally complex and in need of further research.  I recalled Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wycoff’s (2003) research on the “Draw of Home” – or teachers’ desire to teach in communities similar to their own – and wondered if there were any empirical studies comparing this factor with teachers’ actual social networks – and the job acceptance/seeking rate.  As of now, it seems there is not much data on this (but scholars in the MIECT study and others are starting to emerge with new and interesting social network data).