Resiliency to success: supporting novice urban teachers

Abstract

Each year, the National Center for Educational Statistics, through the US Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences, publishes information about the need for millions of new teachers in the USA. Many of these positions are in urban schools. What makes new teachers beat the odds and remain in challenging schools? This study considers existing research on the common characteristics found in resilient urban teachers and extends that research with interview data from 12 novice urban teachers who participated in a mentoring program designed to attract and retain quality urban educators. Using positioning theory, this study highlights seven characteristics common among the participants. Identifying these characteristics and the ways in which the novice teachers used them may help urban district administrators and teacher educators assist novice teachers in positioning themselves to feel successful – and ultimately to be retained – in urban classrooms.

Keywords:

• urban teaching
• resiliency
• preservice teachers
• personal characteristics
• retention rates
• novice teachers

Notes

1. No Child Left Behind is US Department of Education policy and funding for children at risk for school failure. The initial legislation was passed in 2002 and requires school districts to initiate programs of school reform in an effort to eliminate the gap in performance between children of color and White children.

2. Participant responses were edited for brevity and for grammatical conventions, but otherwise are quoted verbatim.