Des Plaines District 62 preps for New Teacher Week

Fourteen new School District 62 certified staff will return to school Thursday, Aug. 12, to prepare for the first day of school, which is Monday, Aug. 23. The group, which consists of teachers, a social worker, a reading specialist, speech/language pathologists and a psychologist, will participate in a five day orientation session that introduces them to District 62 administrators and staff, provides an overview of district resources that support teaching and learning and partners them with veteran teachers who mentor them during the next two years of their careers with District 62.

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 33% of new teachers leave the profession by their third year of teaching, and 46% of teachers leave in their fifth year. Faced with the challenge of acclimating new teachers, school districts must provide professional development that enhances and expands the skills that teachers have, plus alleviate feelings of lack of support, isolation, being overwhelmed and possibly having unrealistic expectations of the job.

Mary Fink, a Central School veteran teacher and program coordinator, has structured the program to give new employees an overview of the student achievement, instruction and professional development, and Professional Learning Community goals established by the District 62 board of education.

District 62 offers a teacher induction and mentoring program, which features pairing novice teachers with seasoned mentors; new teacher orientation; the Danielson Framework for Teaching; and an overview of, and ongoing training in, Professional Learning Communities (PLC), Response to Intervention (RtI), and Curriculum initiatives. Second year teachers participate in book studies and discussions, as well as cultural awareness training.

Mentors are selected through an application process by the mentor selection committee and trained by the Consortium for Educational Change (CEC). Mentors are released for classroom observations, curriculum planning collaboration, and PLC training.

Mentor/novice teacher teams meet weekly, communicate on a frequent and ongoing basis, and participate in 10-20 confidential observations and feedback.

According to Fink, the importance of new teacher induction programs is monumental, when striving to offer students a quality education.