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.

U.S. public schools face the unprecedented challenge of recruiting, supporting, and retaining more than 2.2 million new teachers over the next decade. These new teachers may well staff the nations schools until mid-century. Whether they will be qualified, committed, and effective will depend on the decisions and actions taken by policymakers, education officials, school leaders, and individual teachers across the country. Finders and Keepers not only explores the difficulties new teachers face and offers rich cases and informed insight into their experiences, but also provides practical recommendations about how to best attract and retain a strong teaching force.

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 todays 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 nations 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.