Professional Roles and Responsibilities: Challenges for Induction Teachers

The purpose of this study was to identify challenges faced by induction-year teachers in Texas. The target population for the study was induction teachers in Texas during the 2005-2006 school year (N = 98). A census was conducted and 73 teachers responded resulting in a 77% response rate. Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire administered over the Internet. The questionnaire contained three parts. Part one sought to determine teachers’ perceived level of importance of 44 teaching competencies representing five effective teaching competency categories. Part two of the instrument sought to determine the teachers’ perceived level of preparation on the same competencies and categories. The final section of the instrument sought to describe demographic characteristics of participants. Mean weighted discrepancy scores were calculated to determine the teaching competencies that are most challenging. Correlations were conducted to determine the relationships between the summated weighted discrepancy score and selected personal characteristics. Introduction and Theoretical Framework Education has been frequently described as a profession that “eats its young” (Halford, 1998, p. 33). The cannibalistic reputation has been earned by the alarming rate at which the profession loses teachers in the early career stages. As many as 15% of new teachers leave the profession during the first or second year (Darling-Hammond, 1997). As many as half of all teachers reportedly leave by the end of their sixth year (Marso & Pigge, 1997). The complexity of this issue has been compounded by legislative reform challenging school districts to provide “highly qualified” teachers. Even more alarming is the trend that those with the most potential for success are among the most likely to leave the profession (Rosenholtz, 1989). As researchers have studied the phenomena surrounding the early careers of teachers, a shift has occurred in both language and thought (Lawson, 1992). Early career teachers have been frequently referred to as beginning teachers, a term that referenced merely a point in a career. More common today is the term induction-year teacher, indicating the early years are a process of transformation from program graduate to member of a profession. With the growing recognition of the impact of teacher induction, our approach has moved from a sink or swim mentality (DarlingHammond & Sclan, 1996) to providing formal induction programs aimed at reducing the attrition rate of new teachers as well as improving the teaching capabilities (Weiss & Weiss, 1999). Glaringly evident in this transition is the importance of the induction experiences of teachers. As a result of the growing importance placed on the early career experiences of teachers, a variety of research has been focused toward problems related to teacher retention (Walker, Garton, & Kitchel, 2004; Kelsey, 2006), teacher preparation (Dormody & Torres, 2002; Graham & Garton, 2003), induction programs (Burris, Kitchel, Greiman, & Torres, 2006; Greiman, Birkenholz, & Stewart, 2003; Joerger & Boetcher, 2000; Peiter, Terry, & Cartmell, 2003), and problems and challenges (Mundt Journal of Agricultural Education Volume 49, Number2, pp. 118 129 DOI: 10.5032/jae.2008.02118 Burris & Keller Professional Roles and Responsibilities... Journal of Agricultural Education 119 Volume 49, Number 2, 2008 & Connors, 1999; Myers, Dyer, & Washburn, 2005; Roberts & Dyer, 2004). The common thread of all of these studies is that they have explored the activities, competencies, situations, and opportunities that make secondary agricultural education uniquely challenging. Talbert, Camp, and Heath-Camp (1994) found that agriculture teachers were faced with requirements that were unique to the nature of agricultural education programs and not experienced by teachers in other subject areas. Walker et al. (2004) concluded that the numerous responsibilities associated with the profession contributed to the decision to leave the profession Myers et al. (2005) suggested the first steps to improve teacher retention were to understand problems faced by beginning teachers. Early work by Fuller (1969) proposed a developmental framework for evaluating teacher concerns. Fuller suggested that teacher concerns were related to three distinct areas: self, task and impact. According to Fuller’s model, as teachers develop, the types of concerns they experience change. Their initial concerns relate to self and deal with issues of confidence and efficacy. As teachers gain confidence, their concerns become more focused on the tasks they are expected to accomplish. Finally, teacher concerns move to questions of impact and are more focused on the growth and success of the student. Hillison (1977) supported Fuller in finding that first-year teachers began the year initially focused on concerns of self but ended the year focused on concerns related to tasks. Agriculture teachers require a unique set of competencies. Researches have grouped those competencies into a variety of categories. Shippy (1981) identified 10 competency categories representing 246 teaching competencies. The categories of competencies were program planning, development, and evaluation; planning of instruction; execution of instruction; evaluation of instruction; student vocational organizations; supervised occupational experience; management; guidance; schoolcommunity relations; and professional role and development. Subsequent studies used variations of these groupings either expanding or collapsing the categories. Roberts and Dyer (2004) developed a model of characteristics related to effective teacher behavior. Results of their Delphi process yielded 40 characteristics that an effective agriculture teacher should possess. Those characteristics were categorized into eight groups: instruction, FFA, SAE, community relations, marketing, professionalism/ professional growth, program planning/ management, and personal qualities. For this study, those categories were compressed to represent five competency groupings: program planning/management, instruction, FFA/SAE, community relations/marketing, and professional growth/responsibilities. While problems and challenges are not necessarily synonymous with in-service needs, they do seem to be related. Mundt and Connors (1999) stated that problems of first-year teachers could be translated to inservice needs. Borich (1980) indicated a discrepancy model for needs assessment served multiple purposes, including summative evaluation for determining the level at which competencies were obtained. Those competencies that lack appropriate development surface through the needs assessment model as task related concerns (Fuller, 1969). The literature has provided a rich and consistent insight into competencies of priority for induction teachers, most notably through needs assessments. Researchers in agricultural education have long sought to identify the in-service needs of beginning teachers (Duncan, Ricketts, Peake, & Uessler, 2006; Edwards & Briers, 1999; Garton & Chung, 1996; Hillison, 1977; Layfield & Dobbins, 2002; Shippy, 1981). The value of these needs assessments may extend beyond programming in-service education and serve to identify those challenges associated with induction teaching. However, competencies assessed are often adjusted to fit the needs of the state model studied. The result is a lack of consistency in the competencies assessed. Garton and Chung (1996) assessed beginning teacher needs in Missouri by comparing importance and competence on 50 teacher-related competencies. Findings Burris & Keller Professional Roles and Responsibilities... Journal of Agricultural Education 120 Volume 49, Number 2, 2008 from the study identified competencies in instruction, program planning, and program administration as areas of high need for inservice development. Edwards and Briers (1999) compiled 163 teaching-related competencies to assess the needs of beginning teachers in Texas. They reported mixed findings on teacher competencies by the type of assessment used. The authors further recommended the use of mean weighted discrepancy rankings for identifying priority competencies. In a needs assessment of South Carolina teachers, Layfield and Dobbins (2002) evaluated 50 teaching competencies. Their findings supported the work of Garton and Chung (1996), identifying six common competencies as high need. Common competencies between the studies were use of advisory committees, developing SAE opportunities, preparing degree applications, and supervising SAE programs. Even more recently, Duncan et al. (2006) used the needs assessment design to assess preparation needs of teachers in Georgia. They analyzed 63 competencies that were focused around three thematic areas: technical agriculture, teaching and learning, and program management. Again, common competencies were identified, such as motivating students to learn, managing student behavior, and preparing award applications. The study additionally revealed priority areas not previously identified, most notably advising students about post-secondary education in agriculture. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this study was to identify challenges faced by inductionyear teachers in Texas. The following research objectives were generated to focus and guide the direction of the study. 1. Describe personal characteristics (age, gender, level of education, program type, future plans for teaching) of induction-year teachers. 2. Describe the perceived level of importance, the perceived level of preparation, and the mean weighted discrepancy score for teaching related competencies. 3. Describe the perceived level of importance, the perceived level of preparation, and the mean weighted discrepancy score for teaching competency areas (program planning/management, instruction, FFA/SAE, community relations/ marketing, and professional growth/responsibilities). 4. Determine the relationships between personal characteristics (gender, level of education, program type) and teaching competency areas (summated weighted discrepancy scores). Methods and Procedures This study employed a descriptive survey design. The target population for this descriptive survey study was induction-year (first-year) teachers in Texas. A frame was developed utilizing membership information from the state professional organization for agriculture teachers. The frame was analyzed for omissions and duplications. A total of 98 subjects were identified. A census was conducted, and 73 participants completed the survey instrument for a response rate of 77%. Findings from this study represent the accepting sample (N = 73) and caution should be used in interpreting the findings beyond those who participated. Data were collected using an electronically-delivered questionnaire during the second week of June 2006, after all aspects of the school year had been completed. Subjects were contacted up to six times using a modification of Dillman’s (2002) Tailored Design method. A prenotice was sent to inform subjects of the forthcoming questionnaire and to verify email addresses. Following the pre-notice, subjects were sent an Internet link directing them to an online questionnaire. As many as four follow-up reminders were sent to those who had not responded at approximately seven-day intervals. A final contact was made by phone, when possible, to encourage participation in the study. Burris & Keller Professional Roles and Responsibilities... Journal of Agricultural Education 121 Volume 49, Number 2, 2008 A thorough review of literature related to needs assessments of beginning teachers led to the development of the survey instrument. Teaching competencies were identified from previous studies (Edwards & Briers, 1999; Garton & Chung, 1996; Hillison, 1977, Mundt & Connors, 1999; Myers et al., 2005; Roberts & Dyer, 2004; Shippy, 1981). Competencies were included based on relevance to induction teachers in Texas. The competencies were grouped into the eight categories of effective agriculture teachers (Roberts & Dyer). Those categories consisted of instruction, FFA, SAE, community relations, marketing, professionalism/personal growth, program planning/management and personal characteristics. Several groups were collapsed because of the small number of competencies identified in that area. Fortyfour competencies were identified in five modified effective teacher competency categories: program planning/management, instruction, FFA/SAE, community relations/marketing, and professional growth/responsibilities. The questionnaire contained three parts. Part one consisted of 44 competencies related to five professional roles. For each individual competency, participants were asked to rate their perception of the importance of that competency on a Likerttype scale ranging from 1 = not important to 5 = very important. Part two of the instrument contained an identical listing of those 44 competencies. For each individual competency, participants were asked to rate their perceived level of preparation for that competency on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = not prepared to 5 = very prepared. The final section of the questionnaire contained items that sought to identify personal characteristics of the participants. The instrument was reviewed for content and face validity by a panel of experts (n = 7) consisting of teacher educators in agricultural education and practicing secondary agriculture teachers. The instrument was pilot tested with second-year agriculture teachers (n = 22). Reliability analysis of pilot data yielded Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .89 to .96. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic characteristics. Data were described using measures of central tendency and variability. To accomplish Objective 2, data were analyzed using mean weighted discrepancy scores (MWDS). The MWDS were calculated for each competency using a three-step process. First, discrepancy scores were determined by subtracting level of preparation from level of importance. Second, discrepancy scores were weighted by multiplying the discrepancy score by the mean level of importance for the item. Finally, weighted discrepancy scores were averaged yielding a MWDS. Items were ranked according to the MWDS. The analysis for Objective 3 was accomplished by calculating grand means for level of importance, level of preparation, and MWDS for each of the teaching competency areas. Objective 4 data were analyzed by calculating a summated grand mean discrepancy score for each of the competency areas, as well as an overall MWDS, and correlating that score with gender, level of education, and program type. Point-biserial correlation coefficients were used to describe the relationships associated with gender and biserial correlation coefficients described the relationships associated with level of education and program type. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 14.0.