Investing in high-quality, effective mentoring programs is a key, research-based strategy to increase teacher retention and new teachers' effectiveness. But not all mentoring programs are created equal. This article presents the following 3 strategies to upgrade mentoring programs for new teachers: (1) Focus mentoring on instructional improvement;…

A suite of newly published reports supported by The Wallace Foundation reveals the features and outcomes of high-quality principal learning and exposes disparities in principals' access to strong learning opportunities, especially in high-poverty schools. These reports demonstrate how collaborating institutional partners -- universities, school…

Many school districts struggle to retain early career teachers, but the challenge is particularly pronounced in small and rural districts (Frahm & Cianca, 2021). The School-University Resource Network, a university center at William & Mary School of Education in Virginia, discovered this firsthand through a community of practice they…

Greece Central School District's longstanding new teacher induction model suddenly changed when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close abruptly in March 2020. At a time when many districts dropped their new teacher induction plans amid chaos and confusion, Greece Central School District was able to rapidly transform the way they support…

This article summarizes lessons and examples from a learning community of leaders from 78 large and medium school districts across the U.S. that has been meeting monthly throughout the pandemic, that other educators might apply to their work as they continue to navigate difficult and ambiguous times. The learning community members have identified…

Learning Forward is working with states, districts, and schools to develop strong, instructionally focused mentoring initiatives that result in better teaching and learning for everyone involved. Through the customized Mentor Academy, they help systems shift away from traditional "buddy" type mentoring to a program designed to foster…

Like many districts across the U.S., Miami-Dade County Public Schools is experiencing a large number of open staff positions due to higher-than-normal numbers of retirements and resignations in the face of COVID-19 coupled with enrollment declines in local universities' education departments. The district, in partnership with New Teacher Center,…

The Dane County New Teacher Project, a consortium of 17 school districts in Wisconsin, believes that new teacher induction is everyone's responsibility. To that end, the group pools resources from member districts to ensure support for new educators as they improve their effectiveness with students, find joy and purpose in their careers, and…

Dealing with controversial issues is one of the most important tasks teachers perform. In this article, the author presents a few core concepts and research findings that are essential for understanding what teaching controversial issues is all about and why it is so important to develop capability in this methodology.

Education professionals face myriad problems of practice, especially in the face of current trauma, injustice, and other stressors. To address those challenges, educators should work collaboratively to target the sources, not just the symptoms, of the problems. Asking why can begin to surface root causes, which may be related to systems,…

Most educators believe that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are a fundamental part of good teaching and learning. Long before the pandemic, surveys showed that teachers believed these skills were essential for students to learn at school, and research confirmed that they are linked with measures of academic success. Educators need…

Society lives in perilous times for educational equity. The progress made in desegregation, culturally responsive pedagogy, and social justice is threatened by backlash legislation and protests in defense of the status quo. The pushback is happening at structural levels and very personal levels. There is an urgent need for professional learning…

In the aftermath of the acute phases of COVID-19, some schools are adopting trauma-informed, high-leverage practices to help educators and students cope with the psychological impact of the pandemic on learning. Given the scope of the pandemic's devastation, scattershot approaches are not enough. A systemic approach is needed to ensure that all…

Continuous improvement is at the heart of all teaching and learning. Just as we strive to nurture their students' growth and improvement, educators should be continually growing and improving. As a result, Michelle Pledger and Mari Jones designed the Deeper Learning Hub Fellowship. The aim of the fellowship was to increase K-12 teachers'…

A historically responsive literacy framework examines teaching strategies and structures that honor the histories, identities, and literary practices of all youth from diverse cultures, and especially those who have been traditionally underserved in schools. The framework builds on other work on culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies and…