This year's MVUSD Induction Program is serving 52 candidates, including 26 first-year teachers who have joined the induction class of 2018.  This is the largest the program has been in several years, and in addition to supporting these candidates as they are clearing their credentials, we are also providing mentors for interns who are working toward preliminary credentials, developing a program to provide Teaching Permits for Statutory Leave (TPLS) to long-term substitute teachers to meet a new credentialing requirement, and working on an administrator induction program.  In short, we have our hands full making sure there are plenty of well-prepared teachers to serve our students!

In addition to the growth of our program, we have also been evolving to meet new program standards that have been implemented for induction.  We have rolled out these new standards for our current first-year candidates, and they represent a dramatic shift in the way our teachers are supported.  While there are several differences, the primary shifts to highlight include the following:

• Greater emphasis on mentoring of the candidate (minimum requirement of 4 hours per month of face-to-face work with mentor)
• Greater focus on observation of candidates by mentor, induction coaches, and program leadership
• Less emphasis on completing paperwork--more emphasis on individualized work with mentor through the completing of an Individualized Learning Plan

We've been excited with the results of our implementation so far and the powerful conversations between mentors and their candidates and they self-assess using the Continuum of Teaching Practice and then work to develop their Individualized Learning Plans.

As we move forward, we are also informed by the results of our previous year's work with candidates.  We like to "practice what we preach" with our new teachers by carefully assessing our performance, reflecting on the results, and then making adjustments based on the data.  In that spirit, we are sharing the results of our end-of-year teacher survey HERE so you can see how our candidates felt about the program.  This is just one of the many pieces of data we used to critique our work.