Districts work to improve teacher retention

04:02 AM CST on Tuesday, January 27, 2004

By BRAD WATSON / WFAA-TV

With teacher turnover a constant challenge, North Texas school districts keep coming up with ways to try and retain the teachers already in classrooms.

The Dallas ISD just opened a center for new teachers to give them classroom supplies - and encouragement.

Second-year teacher Rosa Juarez firmly directs her students on how they should act in class, but without the benefit of years of classroom experience, the English-as-a-second language teacher said she's not so firm sometimes on her lesson plans, class layout and discipline.

The Dallas ISD said that's common among new teachers.

"For a new teacher, sometimes they feel quite isolated," said DISD associate superintendent Linda Isaacks. "They're in a classroom by themselves, and sometimes they don't interact with other professionals as much as someone who has had experience."

40 to 50 percent of new teachers quit within five years, and a common reason is weak support from administrators and experienced teachers. So, with funds from the Meadows Foundation, the Dallas ISD just opened the New Teachers Center, located in Nolan Estes Plaza.

At the center, first- and second-year teachers find supplies to set up their classrooms and arrange bulletin boards. They can also pull up lesson plans on the Internet.

Perhaps most important, teachers can also get advice from master teachers on classroom challenges.

"I have here everything I need, so if I want to start a project I have all the materials," Juarez said. "I don't have look in one room and then in another - everything is here."

Dallas and other North Texas school districts are hoping they can lower their teacher turnover rates. The state average for teacher turnover is 15.6 percent, but in Dallas and some other large area districts, the rate runs higher.

"One of the things we've come to realize is if we retain the good teachers, then that's going to affect student achievement, which is going to go up by having an experienced teaching workforce," Isaacks said.