With increasing momentum, a variety of state officials and agencies have begun to address these problems. Most of the proposed solutions, predictably, involve the recruiting, training and retention of new teachers, seen by all concerned as the single vital cog in the state's educational apparatus. The program assigns each new teacher a designated, veteran mentor who provides advice on everything from lesson plans to discipline and generally attempts to add structure to the always daunting first years of teaching. Studies show that the retention rate of teachers mentored in the program soars to more than 90 percent, as opposed to the 50 percent rate documented without mentoring. The results have been especially dramatic in inner-city and rural schools, where students tend to perform at lower levels and good teachers tend to leave at first light.
All kids have to have access to qualified teachers.
The equity issue is imperative, and we're hopeful that mentoring can help address it. Some cultural changes seem to be under way, too, as schools grapple with the challenge of persuading their new teachers to stay. Instead, she trundled the hallways, transient-like, with her books, records and supplies heaped in a shopping cart. Other changes are being made to grease the new-teacher turnstiles. The intern program at the California State University system, which puts student teachers in the classroom as full-fledged instructors with university evaluation, has been expanded from 2,000 slots statewide to 7,900.California, unlike most states, does not hire education majors as teachers.