The Continuing Evolution of an Induction Program: GSTEP in Barrow County Schools

For the last five years, the Barrow County School System has been proudly and productively involved in the induction efforts of GSTEP though its affiliation with the GSTEP Six Districts collaborative. Dr. Sylvia Weller, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, along with Lynn Hammond, Recruitment-Retention Specialist, has headed up these efforts. Before GSTEP, mentoring and induction were synonymous terms, but through the grant, Barrow has been provided with the leadership and funding to think creatively about induction and a framework from which to develop a program.

Barrow’s involvement with GSTEP has led to the creation of the R Team, a group focusing on induction and mentoring in Barrow schools. The R Team is a Title IIA initiative and, as such, provides matching funds for GSTEP awards. Realizing that induction begins even before a teacher is hired and extends for years into the novice’s career, the R Team incorporates: 1.) Recruitment, 2.) Retention, 3.) Research, and 4.) Relationships into the development of an innovative induction program built on best practices. The R Team also uses a dynamic contextual process involving individual, school, school system, and community elements.

Recognizing that the teacher is the most important factor in a child’s education, Barrow County’s induction program has two goals: to retain and develop highly qualified, world-class teachers. Retention has a huge payoff, both to the system economically and to Barrow students educationally. This kind of development enhances student achievement even more by improving teachers’ practices in the classroom and beyond.

Barrow County’s induction plan has expanded on the usual components of such programs to include the elements of recruitment, retention, mentoring, and induction. Some accomplishments achieved through this plan include: improved hiring techniques through the use of Gallup’s TeacherInsight™ online interview system, school-based orientations for new teachers, trained mentoring which is consistently evaluated to adhere to the needs of beginning teachers, and an improving teacher retention rate up to 90% in 2004. For details of Barrow's plan and achievements in recruitment, retention, mentoring and induction, click here.

While Barrow’s program begun through GSTEP is still in its infancy, plans for expansion and a more systematic structure in the future are certain due to Title IIA funding. Through its partnership with GSTEP, the LUC (Law of Unforeseen Connections) Principle has allowed Barrow’s induction program to take on several new, exciting dimensions as one GSTEP connection has led to another and another, even beyond the GSTEP family. Professional relationships formed through Barrow’s work with GSTEP have built support for a strong induction program that will thrive in years to come.

—Lynn Hammond and Marshall Chambers