Impacts of Comprehensive Teacher Induction

The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance within the U.S.
Department of Education’s (ED) Institute of Education Sciences (IES) contracted with
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR), to evaluate the impact of structured and intensive
teacher induction programs. Throughout this report, we refer to the more formal, structured
programs as “comprehensive” induction. The study examines whether comprehensive
teacher induction programs lead to higher teacher retention rates and other positive teacher
and student outcomes as compared to prevailing, generally less comprehensive approaches
to supporting new teachers. More specifically, the study is designed to address five research
questions on the impacts of teacher induction services:
1. What is the effect of comprehensive teacher induction on the types and intensity
of induction services teachers receive compared to the services they receive
from the districts’ current induction programs?
2. What are the impacts on teachers’ classroom practices?
3. What are the impacts on student achievement?
4. What are the impacts on teacher retention?
5. What is the impact on the composition of the district’s teaching workforce?
In 2004, we issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to implement a comprehensive
induction program as part of the study. The RFP specified that the induction program
should include several components that earlier research and professional wisdom gleaned
from practice had suggested were important features of successful teacher induction
programs (Alliance for Excellent Education 2004; Ingersoll and Smith 2004; Smith and
Ingersoll 2004; Kelly 2004; Serpell and Bozeman 2000).