Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/417576
BTSA may be vanishing in some places, but funding hasn't, observes CTA President Dean Vogel. "The money is still there. If a consortium was serious about sustaining programs, it could prorate the costs to participating districts to maintain services. Schools that are interested in providing the best environment for their students will find a way to make it work." Vogel adds, "Putting the costs on the backs of teachers is wrong, and the fact that districts are using LCFF as justification for ceasing assistance to beginning teachers is shameful. How many other professions make you pay for on-the-job training? The answer is none." CTA's Teacher Evaluation Workgroup recently put out a report, "Teacher Preparation and Early Career Support," which looks at the induction crisis. "Our workgroup decided that you can't require a program and then require teachers to pay for it," says CTA Vice President Eric Heins, who serves on the workgroup. "We're working to change this because CTA wants to do the right thing for beginning teachers in California." Fighting to support new teachers Members of the Association of Rowland Educators (ARE) and other district staff successfully fought to maintain a downsized BTSA program in order to keep it free for employees. Otherwise, it faced elimination. It's been challenging, says BTSA program coor- dinator Laureen Kuwaye. "Regional BTSA directors were let go this past year, and neighboring districts closed programs. Therefore, we must rely on our cohorts to keep providing services to our new teachers." Rowland Unified is in Cluster 4, one of the state's six "clusters" organized for BTSA induction. Cluster 4 includes more than 30 school districts in the M e n t o r i n g a n d t h e B e g i n n i n g Te a ch e r S u p p o r t a n d A s s e s s m e n t ( BTS A ) p r o g r a m m a d e a d i f f e r e n c e f o r Marshall Sachs. Induction programs like BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment) made a difference for Marshall Sachs, a second-year science teacher in Orinda Intermediate School. "The weekly time with my mentor has been really helpful. It's nice to have an experienced teacher observe and offer feedback and assistance in lesson planning." Not so much for Kristine Bowdry, a kindergar- ten teacher at West Vine Elementary School in West Covina, who recalls that her time in BTSA six years ago was mostly a "repeat" of what she learned in college and "busywork." "I was mostly filling out forms on reflection," says Bowdry. "To me, it was a lot of theory and jibber-jabber. I would have preferred to observe other kindergarten teachers." These differing viewpoints are prompting edu- cation experts to rethink induction, usually a two-year program needing completion within five years for new teachers to earn a clear creden- tial. CTA is at the forefront of that deliberation. CTA's Teacher Evaluation Workgroup (TEW) is looking at induction practices in California and recently released a report, "Teacher Preparation CTA's "Teacher Preparation" report offers pathway Rethinking induction BTS A p r o g r a m c o o r d i n a t o r Laureen Kuwaye t a l k s w i t h P E t e a ch e r a n d O l y m p i c p o l e -v a u l t e r Giovanni Lanaro, w h o m s h e i s m e n t o r i n g a s a BTS A s u p p o r t p r o v i d e r a t G i a n o I n t e r m e d i a t e S ch o o l i n We s t C o v i n a . Feature 30 www.cta.org