The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Laura Bean is the Mentor Teacher in Residence at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development, where she leads the Rural THRIVE Foundations program. This column reflects her views and expertise only, not those of the University of Maine or any organization of which she is a member. Timothy Surrette is a professor of education at the University of Maine at Augusta and chair of the Bangor School Committee. This column reflects his views and expertise only, not those of the University of Maine System, Bangor School Department, or any organization of which he is a member.
As the school year begins, many students in Maine are in classrooms taught by educators relatively new to the profession. These teachers, with fewer than five years of experience, bring fresh enthusiasm and represent the future of Maine’s public-school workforce, which is older than the national average.
However, long-standing research findings indicate that early-career teachers experience significant demands, such as learning to manage the classroom environment and student behavior; motivating students and responding to their diverse needs; and taking on workloads heavier than their veteran teacher colleagues.
Early-career rural educators, who often work in schools with limited resources and staffing, report additional and unique challenges, such as professional and social isolation; limited access to professional development; and frequently being asked to teach subjects outside their area of expertise.
These difficult working conditions and persistently uncompetitive wages for new teachers in Maine contribute to a high level of early-teacher attrition and overall teacher shortages. As many as a quarter of Maine’s beginning teachers leave Maine public schools before even reaching year four.
For districts, families, and students, this problem is two-fold: the average cost to replace one teacher ranges from $11,860 to $24,930, meaning that high rates of teacher turnover are expensive. High turnover also has a negative impact on student achievement. When a district has to replace early-career teachers again and again, their students have less access to more experienced teachers who have already grown professionally by navigating the challenges of early-career teaching. Persistent rates of teacher turnover may be one factor to consider when addressing Maine’s historically declining NAEP scores.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 report titled Rural America, Maine and Vermont have the highest proportion of population living in rural areas (about 61%). In fact, 68% of Maine’s schools are classified as rural. Therefore, it’s important that education stakeholders in Maine work collaboratively and creatively to provide specialized and robust support to recruit, retain, and develop rural teachers who are critical to the statewide mission to educate Maine’s children and future workforce.
The good news is that, in addition to salary increases, research indicates that early-career teachers who participate in effective mentoring and induction are far more likely to stay in teaching. 80% of Maine early-career teachers surveyed identified mentoring as an effective support. The challenge for rural schools is finding creative ways to provide this support with their already strained budgets and staffing.
Rural THRIVE Foundations was developed to help districts do just that. Part of the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development, the Rural THRIVE Project, of which Foundations is a part, is funded with $3.3 million in Congressionally Directed Spending awarded to the University of Maine System to promote teacher resilience and retention and student outcomes in Maine’s rural schools. Foundations provides mostly virtual, cross-district mentoring and communities of practice as well as professional learning opportunities that supplement the support early-career teachers receive at their schools. Last year, nearly 30 early-career teachers across Maine received support from nearly 40 experienced educators. They reported that the program helped them feel less isolated and better able to resolve challenges they faced.
As evidenced by the recent passing of LD 470, A Resolve, Directing the Department of Education to Review Teacher Mentoring Programs in Maine Public Schools, there is growing urgency to identify and develop robust and sustainable mechanisms to provide the professional support early-career teachers need and deserve. Rural THRIVE Foundations could serve as an important model for what this support could look like and achieve.