New Teacher Center @ University of California, Santa Cruz

The New Teacher Center @ UCSC is a national resource focused on teacher
and administrator induction. America’s schools are now welcoming record
numbers of new educators. Typically, the newest teachers are placed in
the most difficult classes in the neediest schools. Not surprisingly,
many of their educational careers will not survive this trial by fire.
In contrast, the New Teacher Center (NTC) has a demonstrable record of
achievement, with long-term new teacher retention rates as high as 95%,
compared to a nationwide dropout rate of nearly 50%.

The NTC
rests its foundation upon the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project (SCNTP),
established in 1988, as a systematic, mentor-based teacher induction
model. In working with new teachers and, more recently, new principals,
the NTC induction programs help novices not only to survive their early
years, but to emerge as confident, skilled professionals. The NTC’s
unique induction model helps novice educators maintain a strategic
focus on student learning and classroom instruction with the guidance
of highly trained and supported mentors. The NTC works with new and
veteran educators, researchers, and policy makers to support the
development of strong induction models by providing resources and
programs that address effective mentoring and supervision practices,
issues of equity, using student data to improve instruction, and
strategies for meeting the needs of English Language Learners.

Using
an integrated, collaborative approach, the NTC strives to support
essential research, well-informed policy, and thoughtful practice that
encourage teacher development from preservice throughout the career of
a teacher.