Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools (The Jossey-Bass Education Series) [Hardcover]

Susan Moore Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0787969257 | ISBN-13: 978-0787969257 | Edition: 1

This important and much-needed book is based on a longitudinal study of fifty new teachers during their first years in the classroom. It highlights the cases of ten, whose stories vividly illustrate the joys and disappointments of new teachers in today?s schools. The book documents why they entered teaching, what they encountered in their schools, and how they decided whether to stay or move on to other schools or other lines of work. By tracking these teachers? eventual career decisions, Finders and Keepers reveals what really matters to new teachers as they set out to educate their students.? The book uncovers the importance of the school site and the crucial role that principals and experienced teachers play in the effective hiring and induction of the next generation of teachers.

Staffing the nation?s schools presents both challenges and opportunities. For teacher educators, district administrators, educational policymakers, teachers, principals, and staff development professionals, Finders and Keepers provides valuable insights about how to better serve new teachers and the students they teach.?

"At a time when expectations of teachers have never been higher or the challenges of teaching more daunting, Johnson and her project team show how the choice to stay or leave is forged in the early months of becoming a teacher?through hiring practices, pay and other resources, relationships with students, colleagues or administrators, and opportunities for learning and leadership. This book should compel attention from anyone concerned with the future of teaching."
?Judith Warren Little, Carol Liu Professor in Education PolicyGraduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

"Finders and Keepers is a must read for superintendents, district administrators, principals and anyone who cares about the retention and recruitment of high-quality teachers to public schools. The book is both informative and insightful, and above all, it inspires the reader to action."
?Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of Schools, San Francisco Unified School District

"Knowledgeable, skilled and caring teachers represent our best hope for educating all our students well. Finders and Keepers, about real teachers in real schools, tells us how we can overcome impediments together, creating a more genuine profession for teachers and more learner-centered schools for all our students."
?Adam Urbanski, president, Rochester Teachers Association and director, Teacher Union Reform Network

"If you think that this generation of teachers is like the last one, think again. Not only is this book full of insights about the desires and needs of new teachers, but it also provides compelling stories about what the best schools do to keep them and grow their skills. It is a must-read for policymakers, superintendents, principals, and everybody else who cares about quality education."
?Kati Haycock, director, Education Trust, Washington, D.C.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

America’s schools are changing rapidly, especially in urban areas, as one generation of teachers retires and more than two million new teachers enter the profession. In order for schools to both find and keep new teachers, Harvard education professor Johnson says, major reforms are needed in the ways they recruit, train and retain their staff. Over the course of three years, Johnson, who worked with Harvard’s Project of the Next Generation of Teachers, interviewed 50 teachers in Massachusetts as they began their teaching careers. Their experiences and recollections form the heart of this important book. New teachers, Johnson reveals, are no longer always products of college teacher-training programs; now, they might be mid-career transfers to the profession or young adults who have taken a few teaching courses before entering the classroom. Whatever the source of entry, the pressure on new teachers is enormous; Johnson writes that "one of the ‘givens’ of being a teacher is knowing you will not be able to do all that society asks of you." Many of the interviewees make it clear that they ended up working in isolation, without guidance from principals, veteran teachers or a set curriculum. Johnson insists that schools must "provide new teachers some shelter—a less demanding assignment or a slightly reduced load." She also recommends that schools overhaul their hiring practices, commence interviewing candidates in the spring instead of just before September, create systems for professional orientation, support collegiality, and keep teachers motivated by offering professional growth opportunities. No argument is more convincing than the statistics with which Johnson concludes: of the 50 teachers included in the study, 33% have already left teaching. This is a must-read for anyone involved in education.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Given the current shortage of quality teachers, Johnson and her collegaues remind the reader of the primary need of novice teachers -- access to ongoing support from collegues." (The School Administrator, March 2008)

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (March 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787969257
• ISBN-13: 978-0787969257
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,687,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hire the Best/Keep the Best, May 7, 2004

By 

Ilona M. Mellor (Oakland, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools (The Jossey-Bass Education Series) (Hardcover)

Every administrator, supervisor, education college professor should own this book. Too many novice teachers leave the profession before they really get their feet wet. This text will help professional educators who mentor teachers realize more fully the challenges and difficulties that beginning teachers face. The value of this book is that the problems of beginning teachers are clearly related from teachers on the job. We as educators must provide the right climate for these wonderful new teachers; this book will provide the insights into those challenges and the alert those in charge of teacher preparation and those whose responsibilities including hiring new recruits as to the myriad ways that the system may be failing our brightest and best candidates for the teaching profession. The answers come directly from those struggling through their first and second years in the profession. This book will be an excellent source to find and keep our best teachers.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeping Teachers, May 10, 2004

By 

Abby Reisman (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools (The Jossey-Bass Education Series) (Hardcover)

Finders and Keepers perfectly describes my colleagues' and my experiences. We are Ivy League graduates committed to progressive public school education. After five years of teaching in New York City public schools, even the most tenacious of us has been forced to shrug her shoulders and conclude that, "this job is just unsustainable." Finders and Keepers argues that this need not be our trajectory. Johnson and the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers accurately identifies the range of demands on new teachers, and proposes practical and achievable solutions that will enrich the learning environment of any school.

Finders and Keepers sounds an urgent call to attention and puts an end to the finger-pointing game. All players-administrators, principals, superintendents, teacher preparation programs, veteran teachers, union leaders, and policymakers-share responsibility in adequately preparing our schools for the new generation of teachers. We need to make teaching a sustainable career.