Give New Teachers the Support to Succeed

Pressure: As a teacher in an ever-changing, ever-challenging education landscape I feel it everyday.

For the past four years I have been committed to improving the academic growth of children in our nation’s capital. As a developing teacher in a Title 1 school, my career has become my life. My job is nonstop: adjusting lesson plans in real time; attending meetings during planning times; working an extended school day; reflecting on my practice and my students in my spare time; using weeknights and weekends for planning and grading. The reality is I am responsible for the growth of 25+ children, when I am still developing as a teacher myself.

I know I am not alone. New teachers across the country are faced with very similar issues of having too much to do and too little time to do it. We must navigate the demanding early phases of our careers as we work toward becoming the effective teachers we aspire to be, while providing our students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Too often, when we receive feedback on our developing practice, it’s after a performance evaluation that can determine our future in a particular school or even the entire district.

One hundred percent of students in my school are eligible for free meals. A high-quality education is their opportunity to have the successful futures they deserve. As their teacher, I work hard each day to deliver rigorous and engaging lessons that reach all my students. And—rightly so—I’m held accountable for my ability to improve their learning and growth. Each quarter my school leaders evaluate my practice and at the end of the school year, these scores are combined for an effectiveness rating.

The scores I receive play a major role in my career trajectory—as they do for millions of teachers across the US. Yet not all new and developing teachers receive the high-quality teacher training and professional development in the early stages of their careers to ensure they are successful in their schools.

New teachers should be able to rely on their teacher preparation programs to help them understand the value of evaluations and prepare them to achieve results with their students. If teachers aren’t provided the right tools to understand, interpret and improve their practice through constructive feedback and aren’t given that feedback in the first place, the assessments are for naught.

Teaching is complex work that requires time, practice and feedback to become great. Thus, as we apply rating systems to our teachers—particularly our new teachers—we need to equip them with time, practice and feedback as they develop their practice. New teachers need specific and actionable feedback and the space to experiment, learn and grow before evaluations take place. When the scores come in we need to work with teachers to unpack and absorb them in a way that improves their practice. If we support the development of our new and novice teachers, we can ensure students in our highest-need schools are given the effective teachers they need.

During my first three years of training, my preparation program helped me understand the value of well-rounded evaluations and how to use the data they provide to improve my practice. But most importantly, they trained me to be extremely reflective and act on feedback. Early in my career, I received formal and informal cycles of pre-conferences (to talk about my lesson plans and show my rationale for the instructional decisions I am making), observations (to show my ability to implement an instructional strategy), and post-conferences (to debrief the experience, reflect on my teaching and walk away with clear, actionable steps from my coach to improve my practice). This process of coaching and reflection started before I was responsible for my own class of students and continued through my first two years on the job. Frequently, my coach visited my class to ensure I was developing a toolbox of skills and strategies I could draw on to meet the needs of my students.

As such, when my coach completed formal evaluations of performance, I felt prepared to demonstrate my abilities working with students. My evaluations helped direct my professional development. Evaluations that are done well, with the right support, can empower educators. I felt empowered, as I knew exactly where my strengths and weaknesses were and was excited to demonstrate my growth as a developing teacher. Evaluations and coaching gave me a window into my own development, enabling me to keep improving my practice for my school and kids. I know I would not have made it through my first two years teaching without this consistent support.

It is imperative we give new teachers the tools to be high achievers. Teachers should be able to rely on their preparation program to provide them with the support and guidance needed to succeed in their school environment. Districts can learn from successful coaching models to add in other layers of on-site support and professional development to ensure their novice teachers continue to grow based on the feedback they receive from their evaluations. The results will not only be clear in our evaluation results, but teachers will flourish in their schools, giving our children the education they need to thrive.

Amara Pinnock is a Special Education Teacher at Orr Elementary School, Teaching Fellow at Urban Teachers, Secretary at Urban Teachers Fellow Advisory Board, and an Ambassador of the national TeachStrong Campaign.