What New Teachers Need Right Now
The ELP team is constantly talking to, thinking about, and reading about teachers, the teaching profession, and public education. That’s how we ran across this article, “What Do Teachers Really Need”, by a former educator, Morgan Atkins.
As we went through her list of seven supports that teachers need, we realized that ELP provides all of them to participants in our program. Here’s how:
ELP lets New Teachers personalize their growth and development
Morgan wrote that teachers need learning focused on their strengths; choice in professional development; and the chance to share and train others in their areas of interest
In our program, New Teachers (NTs) receive positive, constructive feedback during mentoring and coaching sessions. NTs choose what they want to focus on and discuss; In-Person Mentors (IPMs) and Virtual Instructional Coaches (VICs) follow their lead.
In addition, IPMs and VICs get the chance to share their knowledge with NTs. In the summative assessment of the two-year pilot program, the report stated:
"Almost all In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches felt that mentoring and coaching in ELP had positively influenced their own teaching practice. Some emphasized the reciprocity they felt with their New Teacher, how much they learned, and that working with New Teachers kept their teaching fresh."
ELP helps pave a clear career pathway for veteran teachers
Some teachers are eager to move into administration, but some simply want a leadership role that allows them to stay in the classroom. We heard this loud and clear in the summative assessment from the pilot program:
"During the second year of the pilot, participants told us they preferred to learn how to be an In-Person Mentor or Virtual Instructional Coach from their peers (rather than an expert). We identified In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches who were especially successful in the program and asked them to lead workshops."
Last year, we hosted alumni-led events that allowed ELP alumni to share their expertise with NTs, IPMs, and VICs; they were well-attended and well-received. During this school year, experienced VICs took over training for new VICs, and the feedback has been very positive.
New Teachers receive advice on well-being, habits, and boundaries
The first year or three of teaching often feels like drinking from a firehose, and NTs can become quickly overwhelmed. Without guardrails in place, NTs face burnout.
Every year, we hear how IPMs and VICs help NTs create sustainable habits that support both professional success and personal well-being. They have helped NTs:
Manage stress and their workload
Find and maintain work-life balance
Share strategies for setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care
Set aside time for regular reflection and goal-setting to develop healthier work habitsCreate systems to avoid overcommitment
ELP participants experience purposeful learning with actionable next steps
ELP’s model was designed to be intentional and actionable, and the feedback shared in the program’s annual summative assessments bear this out in several ways.
First, training for NTs have an immediate impact:
"New Teachers consistently praised sessions that provided concrete strategies they could implement in their classrooms the very next day. Practical tools, like classroom management techniques and lesson-planning templates, made the training immediately valuable.
Second, training for IPMs and VICs provide resources that don’t require additional prep time:
"One participant shared that the most effective professional development sessions were those where they walked away with ready-to-use resources and clear action steps. They appreciated being able to apply what they learned without additional prep time."
Third, NTs get actionable feedback:
"The most impactful coaching moments happened when mentors provided real-time feedback and specific next steps. Teachers felt more confident knowing exactly what to adjust and how to improve their practice immediately."
ELP participants get useful tools and the support to use them
Teachers are eager to use new tools and technology, but they need ongoing support while they get comfortable. We provide both to NTs so they become more confident and competent faster.
NTs told us:
"The training didn’t just introduce us to a new curriculum—it walked us through how to use it step by step. We had ongoing coaching afterward, which made me feel confident implementing it in my classroom."
"I was excited about the new tech platform, but what made the difference was having a mentor I could turn to when I hit a roadblock. Knowing I had support made me more willing to try something new."
Beyond ensuring they have the training we need, we do our best to provide teachers with tools that are clear and simple to use. The Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle is a perfect example. Teachers can plan how to implement one new thing in their classroom, do it, study how it works, and then act on it by keeping it, adjusting it, or trying something else.
ELP provides social-emotional and active-learning strategies for students
Students had diverse needs before the COVID-19 pandemic amplified and exacerbated those challenges. Teachers at all levels need social-emotional and active learning strategies for students, especially NTs.
NTs have told us:
"My students come in with so many social-emotional needs, and having ongoing training in how to support them has made a huge difference - not just in their behavior, but in their ability to learn."
"As a new teacher, I often felt overwhelmed by students' diverse needs. The mentorship I received, along with training on classroom management and emotional support strategies, helped me stay in the profession."
We do our best to keep ELP time commitments to a minimum
Participating in ELP, whether as a NT, IPM, or VIC, requires at a time commitment. NTs need time to meet with their IPM and VIC, and all participants attend ELP workshops and trainings.
Based on feedback from participants, we have continually refined our model to ensure everything we do is intentional, valuable, and actionable so participant time is well-spent.
A great example is the type of guidance we provide to IPMs and VICs on how to support their NTs. We didn’t want to create a constricted environment bound by rules. We wanted to let NTs get the type of support they needed when they needed it.
But participants told us they needed concrete guidance in a few specific formats:
A one-page checklist of expectations and assignments, tied to dates.
A one-page calendar showing required events (and optional ones)
A concise syllabus showing the yearlong trajectory
Meeting guidelines for how often and how long to meet with NTs
Continued use of the rubric received from TNTP
Done!
What other support do you need right now?
The above list is just a start. If you are a teacher, what would you add to it?