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Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Hidden in yesterday's hullabaloo about teacher retention was the news that, starting this year, new teachers won't go through GOLDEN MINT or whatever CPS used to provide. Instead, the Chicago New Teacher Center is taking over.
CNTC's model is based on fulltime "induction coaches" who are supposed to meet with new teachers weekly, rather than part-time, school-based mentors. [Disclosure: I did some consulting for CNTC in 06-07.]
Check it all out here -- a knowledgeable friend of the site sent this along the other day.
Will CNTC coaching do any better than the old CPS program? Is anyone going to miss GOLDEN (other than the folks who ran and staffed the program?) Most immediately, I'm guessing that CNTC is hiring coaches to work with new teachers. Everyone, send them your resumes!
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Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Turning back the clock
After reading the announcement, it's clear that the CNTC model is really just a glorified extension of student teaching. Perhaps that's a good model for elementary schools, but it's not for high schools. New high school teachers want a mentor who is a teacher in their building teaching the same courses. That's what GOLDEN Teachers provided. These mentors were trained and provided with guidelines for observing and coaching new teachers.
GOLDEN was also cost-effective. Mentors received a small quarterly stipend for their work. Under the CNTC model mentors are paid a full salary and benefits! Obviously they will be serving a larger number of new teachers than GOLDEN mentors, but is that really a good thing? Instead of forming a real relationship with a mentor, new teachers will be just another name on a caseload.
New teachers will still need someone in their building who they can turn to for guidance. However, these informal mentors will not be trained, compensated or have a support structure. This was the situation when I was a new teacher over a dozen years ago. It's hard to see that as any kind of progress.
It is so typical of the Board to invest heavily in a program like GOLDEN, finally get it fine-tuned so that it meets the needs of new teachers and then drop it when new leadership comes in. By the way, how much will CNTC be paid?
GOLDEN was also cost-effective. Mentors received a small quarterly stipend for their work. Under the CNTC model mentors are paid a full salary and benefits! Obviously they will be serving a larger number of new teachers than GOLDEN mentors, but is that really a good thing? Instead of forming a real relationship with a mentor, new teachers will be just another name on a caseload.
New teachers will still need someone in their building who they can turn to for guidance. However, these informal mentors will not be trained, compensated or have a support structure. This was the situation when I was a new teacher over a dozen years ago. It's hard to see that as any kind of progress.
It is so typical of the Board to invest heavily in a program like GOLDEN, finally get it fine-tuned so that it meets the needs of new teachers and then drop it when new leadership comes in. By the way, how much will CNTC be paid?
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
I agree with High School Mentor. I went through the Golden Program a couple of years ago. Golden had some huge flaws in terms of the silly reflection journals, confusing paperwork, and crappy professional development (a Classroom Managment class taught by someone that had no classroom managment with a room full of teachers).
This said, it was INVALUABLE for me to have someone in my building that cared about the school and students and took an active interest in helping me to become a competant teacher. He knew the issues that would arise given our student population and prepared me for them. He was right down the hall if I needed advice on how to approach my principal or a parent with an issue that arose. More importantly, he was able to pop into my room at any time to check on me, observe, and give me quick pointers. He was easily accessible whenever I needed him. AND, I had the opportunity to observe him and see him utilize the techniques/methods/ideas he was suggesting for me. It was also so important to hear an experienced voice tell me the ins and outs of CPS as a system. He taught me how to "play the game." Since the stipend was so little, I knew he was there for me and not for the cash. (Thanks, Mr. P!)
I fear having mentors checking in from the outside could never be as effective as having a person to turn to within the building. I can't wait to see what kind of "yes men and women" they are going to hire for this. Can you imagine how CPS could manipulate new hires with this? "Don't file a grievance"..."look at the bad older teachers"..."data data data."
Help us all!
This said, it was INVALUABLE for me to have someone in my building that cared about the school and students and took an active interest in helping me to become a competant teacher. He knew the issues that would arise given our student population and prepared me for them. He was right down the hall if I needed advice on how to approach my principal or a parent with an issue that arose. More importantly, he was able to pop into my room at any time to check on me, observe, and give me quick pointers. He was easily accessible whenever I needed him. AND, I had the opportunity to observe him and see him utilize the techniques/methods/ideas he was suggesting for me. It was also so important to hear an experienced voice tell me the ins and outs of CPS as a system. He taught me how to "play the game." Since the stipend was so little, I knew he was there for me and not for the cash. (Thanks, Mr. P!)
I fear having mentors checking in from the outside could never be as effective as having a person to turn to within the building. I can't wait to see what kind of "yes men and women" they are going to hire for this. Can you imagine how CPS could manipulate new hires with this? "Don't file a grievance"..."look at the bad older teachers"..."data data data."
Help us all!
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
As a new second-career educator five years ago, GOLDEN Teachers was a colossal waste of time. The paperwork was oppressive. My mentor teacher was a total hack. The best thing she did for me was to stay away from me while still collecting her stipend.
Now, I think my experience reflects far more heavily on my local school's implementation choices than it does on the actual GOLDEN Teachers, though I gladly second Golden Participants silliness described above. As is often the case, a policy or program is only as good as the hands-on participants and ground-level managers that bring it to life.
I have never found formal mentoring in my previous career, in secondary school, or in higher education to be especially useful. For me, mentoring is about relationships and mutual respect - and those are two things that just can't be forced into existence through formal programs.
I don't think teaching is the most complicated thing on the planet, but I am thrilled to have received extensive and invaluable advice and critique from informal mentors. It is those experiences, relationships, and learning that really made the difference for me.
I expect my experience with CNTC would be about as meaningful as the one I had with GOLDEN Teachers or other official, formal, and forced mentoring programs. I'd rather take the money for these obligatory mentoring deals to buy adequate school supplies, hire and retain more top teachers (since top teachers seem to be the ones CPS is especially good at driving away), upgrade facilities and technology, etc., etc., etc.
Now, I think my experience reflects far more heavily on my local school's implementation choices than it does on the actual GOLDEN Teachers, though I gladly second Golden Participants silliness described above. As is often the case, a policy or program is only as good as the hands-on participants and ground-level managers that bring it to life.
I have never found formal mentoring in my previous career, in secondary school, or in higher education to be especially useful. For me, mentoring is about relationships and mutual respect - and those are two things that just can't be forced into existence through formal programs.
I don't think teaching is the most complicated thing on the planet, but I am thrilled to have received extensive and invaluable advice and critique from informal mentors. It is those experiences, relationships, and learning that really made the difference for me.
I expect my experience with CNTC would be about as meaningful as the one I had with GOLDEN Teachers or other official, formal, and forced mentoring programs. I'd rather take the money for these obligatory mentoring deals to buy adequate school supplies, hire and retain more top teachers (since top teachers seem to be the ones CPS is especially good at driving away), upgrade facilities and technology, etc., etc., etc.
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
This is the same model that the NY School district employed but got rid of because it is so costly. That being said, I agree that it will probably be a waste of time. Did you look at the requirements? It is just another way for the board to hire more young people who couldn't teach their way out of a box. Can you imagine a five year teacher from Iowa coaching a new teacher in Englewood? Give me a break! When will the board start looking within for talent instead of going all the way to California for help. This system is on a steady path to ruin!
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
This information was posted by CPS Internal Communications on the CPS FirstClass system on June 26, and then retracted later that day. What gives?
Good ol' CPS communication at its best!
The following message and attachment have been retracted:
Dear Colleague,
The Chicago New Teacher Center will provide intensive induction support to new teachers throughout the district for the 2009-10 school year. Please see attachment for additional information.
Good ol' CPS communication at its best!
The following message and attachment have been retracted:
Dear Colleague,
The Chicago New Teacher Center will provide intensive induction support to new teachers throughout the district for the 2009-10 school year. Please see attachment for additional information.
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 2:11 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Do you think there will be coaches for special education teachers or will they, as always be the orphans of the world. Perhaps those literacy teachers who work so hard with the primary teachers can find time to help special ed teachers with students who need to learn how to read. Coaches like principals will find their favorites and work with them...exclusively.
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Whoa we had special education coaches-here is a snippet from a new, but competent teacher, "this child is threatening to kill me-(child is 200 lbs and hears voices...) here is a book on behavior for you to read,.... but we read this sophomore year and I have tried all of the interventions...I do not know what to tell you...the parents refuses to get the medication prescribed by the psychiatrist"...fade out..coach goes to the next room where she recommends social stories for a child labeled LD who is eating her behavior chart....so again we will be subject to coaches who are paid full salaries but know little and do less...what a joke...and it is insulting to those of us with experience who have knowledge of this system to be overlooked in favor of newbies yet again...it is a small wonder our low morale echoes that of the CPD...something Ron should know all about
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
CNTC helped me stay in teaching and in CPS. The 2 coaches I had both came from CPS schools similar to my own (not Iowa) and had 7-10 years experience; this seems consistent with their induction coaching staff's background (I hope it doesn't change as CNTC expands). The concerns from high school teachers seem valid about not having the in-house mentor, but my coaches provided much needed support that neither my elementary school nor CPS offered. CNTC's support goes beyond the weekly mentoring - the PD and listhost, which still involves teachers well beyond year 3, are big assets. Again, I hope CNTC doesn't lose the quality as it grows!
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
So these coaches left teaching after many years (seven?) to become coaches. Did they leave CPS? Who is paying them? It is unfortunate that you were not mentored by one of your co-workers. It took two coaches to keep you in teaching not what you learned in college or input from peers. I was mentored by many teachers during my forst five years and none of them received or expected monetary compensation. They simply cared enough about the school to want the best possible teachers so anyone who walked through the doors received invaluable assistance from peers. I really do not understand why we need to pay teachers(coaches) to do what is simply being a good human being.
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Instead of Hubermand anc cronies doing their homework, we get this kind of fluff. Second, new teachers don't need extra work not connected to their school community. Supporting school wide building of professional leadership capacity should be one strong option for schools. Huberman should get a clue!
Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
spent for this program. it is not cheap and they spend anything they can get from CPS. Big $. Look at teh consultants they get who get paid $60,000 for a year AFTER they retire and they have not been in a classroom teaching for decades. Is this not the UC program? Corrupt!
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 6:59 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
How many more can fit at the feeding trough? We have major universites making big money off of the children of Chicago-now we have another company sending in coaches-do these people have certification or even background checks or does their lineage exempt them from CPS rules? Stop sending the taxpayers' dollars out of the school-maybe the employees can stop buying soap, sanitizers and paper towels. This is a----ed up system and the children come last.
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Are you kidding? If you look at the requirements to become a cntc mentor, it is only five years. Five years and you get to help retain a teacher? If it is such a great deal being a teacher, then why do the coaches leave after a few years? Also, they don't even need advanced degrees!!! Most of the coaches you see are young and white with only a few years as CPS employees. Do you really think that they have been around CPS long enough to help retain a new teacher? All the leadership within cntc is white as well. Not a single person of color in the whole mix. Even on the national level, the leadership at the NTC in California is white, but they can tell you how to help children of color? Once more, CPS is doing things to further segregation in the system. Sit back and watch how many coaches of color are hired in cntc with their new recruitment drive as well as veteran teachers. The breakdown will probably be 80% white, 17% African American, 2% Latino, and 1% Asian.
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
0% with over 20 years-color does not matter-expertise has no color- a good teacher is a good teacher no matter the color and we need to get past playing the race card ...the sixties are over...and "minorites who have made it" can be very condescending to other minorities...
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
I am putting a sign in my classroom door a big red circle with a slash mark that says NO COACHES
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
I agree that color doesn't have an impact on best practices, but I don't think that a teacher with five years experience should be coaching new teachers.
Not only is that person wet behind the ears, but they don't have enough experience to get a new teacher over some of the hurdles they will encounter. It is just as insulting as the way AUSL is getting rid of veteran teachers at the turnaround schools. Yes, I know that there are some horrible veteran teachers, but to dismiss a whole staff? At what point are the parents held responsible for their children? What good parent doesn't notice if their child never goes to school with a backpack or doesn't have any homework, ever? What about the report card pick-ups when only 50% of the parents show up? Better yet, how is a coach from a good area going to know how to help a new teacher through that when they only have a few years within CPS? What is the point in tenure when you are not rewarded for it? I am a veteran teacher in area 8 and unfortunately there are very few coaches of color and few that look over 30. That is a fact and it makes me wonder if they are sending a subliminal message out to other teachers!
Not only is that person wet behind the ears, but they don't have enough experience to get a new teacher over some of the hurdles they will encounter. It is just as insulting as the way AUSL is getting rid of veteran teachers at the turnaround schools. Yes, I know that there are some horrible veteran teachers, but to dismiss a whole staff? At what point are the parents held responsible for their children? What good parent doesn't notice if their child never goes to school with a backpack or doesn't have any homework, ever? What about the report card pick-ups when only 50% of the parents show up? Better yet, how is a coach from a good area going to know how to help a new teacher through that when they only have a few years within CPS? What is the point in tenure when you are not rewarded for it? I am a veteran teacher in area 8 and unfortunately there are very few coaches of color and few that look over 30. That is a fact and it makes me wonder if they are sending a subliminal message out to other teachers!
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
I agree with you on the age point but not the color. Mentors should have at least 20 years, have the same certification and be in the school where the teacher works. Each school is different and has its own hurdles for new teachers. I believe having a mentor in house is much more meaningful than a drive by coach. This in house mentoring was a positive aspect of the Golden Teacher Mentor Program
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
How much are these 5 year experts making? Daley is making laborers take unpaid furlough days but CPS is hiring a company/university to send in the clowns AKA "in the field for five years" experts /coaches...children first-yeah right
Wed Jul 1, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
CNTC is why teachers leave! --was not there a study last year about how new teachers LEAVE or were NOT helped by CNTC? Oh yes there was!!! how CPS forgets.
Thu Jul 2, 2009 at 1:04 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
there's no perfect solution to teachers dropping out and how to mentor and support them, but there's an argument to be made that teachers in the 5-15 year range have much of the real-world knowledge that they need and can relate better to young teachers in ways that some more experienced teachers may not be able to do.
there's also an argument to be made for having someone outside a school give perspective and ideas on what's going on in a school, rather than having a principal's pick assigned as mentor.
i know that some of you guys would prefer the old sink or swim approach -- those were the days, really -- and that anything new is necessarily bad. i'm not saying CNTC offers any silver bullet, but let's have some perspective here.
-- alexander
there's also an argument to be made for having someone outside a school give perspective and ideas on what's going on in a school, rather than having a principal's pick assigned as mentor.
i know that some of you guys would prefer the old sink or swim approach -- those were the days, really -- and that anything new is necessarily bad. i'm not saying CNTC offers any silver bullet, but let's have some perspective here.
-- alexander
Thu Jul 2, 2009 at 7:06 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
no conflict of interest with US and their own studies? No problem with them giving no bid contract to UC and/or CPS newly retired (bad) administrators in the sum of $60.000 or $75,000 to thank them for their dirty work? Yes, teachers need help, but this need to be done with some ethics on US's part. (AND US charges schools for some of theriservices from their poverty money) and they give no education degree...
Thu Jul 2, 2009 at 7:17 AM
Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
will UC study their success or will they get an outsider NOT affiliated with UC to really see if their CNTC IS working--I think not. On some things, they were in denile about or did not beleive new teachers when they shared what was CPS policy or what CPS making them do. The other is that this program and the teachers in it, especially coming into the school as an outsider--will/could be seen as a spy or will they "tell on the principal' and faculty" if the principal feels and has evidence that this CNTC newby is not a good fit, should be in a different grade, etc., AND lastly, this group has a problem with gossip! That is not good with sensitve and personal matters. Also, if BEW was still a principal, I do not think she would be happy having them in her school. THEY HAVE NOT , once again, included principals in on this decision. CNTC will also be see as causing those who work(ed) in Golden Teachers as the ones who displayced them.
When you are trained by an employer, do you doit for FREE?
New teachers will not get paid for the mandatory workshops- There are real probelms here Alexander. I have worked for a time and in different ways with UC and briefly with CNTC. I was concerned with what I saw and what took place.
When you are trained by an employer, do you doit for FREE?
New teachers will not get paid for the mandatory workshops- There are real probelms here Alexander. I have worked for a time and in different ways with UC and briefly with CNTC. I was concerned with what I saw and what took place.
