-The Little Miami Entry Year Program

The Little Miami Entry Year Program provides support for teachers new to the district with two years or less experience. This program, supported by state funding, is designed to provide direct assistance to Little Miami’s beginning teachers via Mentors who offer support necessary to help them meet “real-world” classroom challenges. While statewide pilot programs have operated with state support since 1994, mandated statewide implementation of the Entry Year Program as an integral component of teacher licensure began in the fall of 2002.

All beginning teachers employed full time under a two-year provisional license, must successfully complete an Entry Year Program and pass the performance based Praxis III assessment before they are issued a 5 year professional license—the license required to work as a fully-credentialed teacher in Ohio schools. The Praxis III is a “high stakes” assessment. Teachers must pass this assessment in order to continue teaching.

In order to successfully complete Little Miami’s Entry Year program, new teachers must attend monthly meetings, complete OHIO FIRST Training, take part in classroom observations with their Mentor, and must have established a solid foundation in professional practice to enhance student learning. To successfully pass the Praxis III Assessment, Entry Year Teachers must be proficient in the four domains of teaching. These four domains are assessed by a state certified Praxis Assessor through direct observation of classroom practice, review of documentation prepared by the teacher, and semi-structured interviews. The four domains are listed below:

• Organizing content knowledge for student learning
• Creating an environment for student learning
• Teaching for student learning
• Teacher professionalism

Teachers new to the Little Miami School District are matched with a Mentor as soon as possible after being hired. New teachers can then become familiar with areas such as curriculum, room design, scheduling, and other student needs, before entering the classroom. Most of the time, Entry Year Teachers are paired with a Mentor in the same concentration, building and grade level.

Little Miami Mentors are required to be trained in PATHWISE, a framework for effective teaching, and OHIO FIRST. Through this training, they help to prepare the Entry Year Teacher for the Praxis III Assessment. Mentors also provide assistance with the following elements of effective teaching:

• Preparation for the Praxis III Assessment
• Designing lesson plans
• Guiding time management
• Reporting student progress
• Preparing for parent conferences
• Applying rules and procedures for student management
• Demonstrate teaching with follow-up analysis of effective practices

Both Mentors and Entry Year Teachers attend “in-service” meetings before the beginning of school. They also are required to attend monthly professional meetings after school to discuss educational issues as well as build professional interaction and peer resources.

Little Miami’s Entry Year Program is quite extensive, but essential to the high standards an “excellent” school should expect. It is based on the connection between educators working together to give each of our students the most meaningful education possible.