Frequently Asked Questions

According to estimates, the United States will need as many as 2.4 million new teachers in the next decade as a result of retirements, growing enrollment and an influx of non-English speaking students.

New teachers are typically young, energetic and idealistic but not well-versed in teaching strategies, pedagogy or curriculum. As a result, they tend to generate more problems with behavior and learning outcomes for their students are somewhat below those of more experienced teachers. (Please note: NTN does not subscribe to the view that test scores alone represent a valid, reliable or useful measure of learning.)

To be frank, we have a real problem in this country in the way that we bring new teachers into the teaching profession. They are frequently given poor assignments, in the least desirable rooms, then left to flounder without much support or encouragement. Estimates of new teacher attrition are in the neighborhood of 50% in the first five years; less for successful schools with high morale, higher for the most challenging inner-city schools.

While many districts and schools have instituted mentor programs in the last 15 years, the fact that attrition has not significantly lessened and that quality instruction has not greatly increased is enough to suggest that a more effective approach is called for.

California and Massachusetts, along with many other districts around the country have moved in the direction of "induction", programs that combine mentoring with focused staff development and some coaching and coursework, so that new teachers prove they are making progress and grasp issues fundamental to teaching success.

NTN believes that induction programs represent an improvement over simple mentoring. However, there is still more that can and must be done. As Harry Wong has pointed out, the new generation of teachers are much more oriented to teams in general and using the internet in particular to build support and master content material. They love to work together and their facility with new technologies has opened new horizons for doing so.

The New Teacher Network is predicated on this idea: provide connectivity, allow for collaboration, enable peer-to-peer exchange. In this way, "open source" learning will allow for best practices and ideas to flow to those who seek them. In addition, by providing quality programming, including coursework, retreats and meet-ups, NTN believes that new teachers can be "bonded" to the profession, and the particular iteration of it in their building or district.

In the end, teachers will not stay on the job if they do not feel they are making a difference, or that the work provides real meaning for them personally. Sorry, but no one goes into teaching for the money, and, in the end, June, July and August are not enough if September to May are hellish power battles with students bent on making a teacher's life miserable.

There has to be something more, and that's why NTN has come into being.

NTN's sole mission is to grow teachers by providing the kind of support, connectivity and rich discussion of specific methods, curriculum and strategies, that will allow new teachers to become effective quickly. From there, NTN hopes to further encourage new teachers to build support, engage in collegial networks and look for personal meaning in their work.

There is as much to build within the person of the teacher as there is in the persona of the teacher. And more than any specific technique or lesson, NTN's mission is to provide a forum and an ethos that looks to the heart of a teacher as the one indispensable aspect of becoming masterful. Sure, a teacher needs to structure their classes in productive ways, have a great touch with people, be reflective about their work, and many other things as well.

However, NTN believes that if you build a heart around the intention of helping students, they will come, learn and be inspired. In the end, inspiration is the well-spring of excellence; and excellence the ultimate goal of learning and of a life well-lived.

Please join us. Help fortify the hearts of new teachers so that they may pass forward the legacy of teaching that inspired each of us.

How did No Child Left Behind work its way through Congress without the slightest criticism or complaint from America's educators?

Why are public school teachers, who by and large make substantial sacrifices on behalf of children, vilified and slandered in the mainstream media without a counter-narrative rising up to challenge it?

Why are teachers told how to do their jobs by rank amateurs and then judged by instruments that have low validity, scant reliablility and no transparency, and which were created, once again, by people who have never been in front of a classroom?

How is it that new teachers, who leave the profession at high rates after just a few years, are left to struggle alone in their classrooms while they are surrounded by accomplished, experienced educators on all sides?

Sure. We have teacher's unions. And even in most cases, professional associations.

But, and this is the key point: go back to the above set of questions.

Which of those have been sincerely and effectively addressed by either unions or teacher professional associations?

Answer: Not one.

A network provides two very crucial advantages:

One, it provides the kind of rich connections, ideas, possibilities, feedback and options that allow a person to reach their fullest potential.

Two, it provides the kind of depth, perspective, creativity and insight that allows the whole group to advance its interests and vision.

In other words, networks greatly accelerate the growth of individuals, at the same time they advance the cause of the entire group or organization.

That's why networks--linked together through the internet--are the 21st century equivalent of America's 19th century civic organizations.

Whether in business, politics, social circles or organizations of any kind, people and coherent groups who network succeed. Those that are unable to gain support and connection, inevitably, end up falling short of their full potential.

That's why NTN is out to create a coherent network for teachers. It leads to individual excellence and group success, two things sorely needed in today's education environment.Join us today. Bring a friend. A colleague. Or your whole department or school. Together we make each other better.

Alone we will continue to work in isolation, taking hits from all sides and unable to see the beauty and greatness in the work that we so cherish.

We mean: what can you do as part of this venture to realize NTN's mission and goals?

Anything from posting occasional comments, to getting new teachers in your building to join an organic group, to teaching actual courses through NTN, to moving to Minneapolis and going all-in with the current NTN team to change the way new teachers are brought into the system.

You can teach online courses here, put up a classified ad, pimp your blog, pretty much whatever fits with the ethos, principles and mission of NTN.

There is no collaboration without your participation, input and ideas.

By collaborate, we mean allowing you to find a way to utilize your energy, gifts and insight to help realize the goals of NTN.