Program aims to help public schools keep new teachers

By participating in the New Teacher Project beginning last fall, the Thurston County school district, about 60 miles south of Seattle, Washington, hopes to retain 85 percent of this year’s 20 incoming instructors. Rochester is one of seven school districts, along with two educational service districts, to join in the New Teacher Project. Spearheaded by the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) with a four-year, US$3 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the program aims to draw attention to mentoring and other ways that Washington’s public schools can keep more of their beginning teachers. Read the article on The Seattle Times website.