The article analyzed and critiqued in this brief report was written by Susan M. Johnson and Susan M. Kardos. Its title is "Keeping New Teachers in Mind." It was published in Educational Leadership. It appeared in the March 2002 edition of the journal on pages 12 through 16.
Johnson and Kardos (2002) described results of the first phase of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, a five-year qualitative study undertaken at the Harvard Graduate School of Education which tracks 50 new teachers in Massachusetts. Among the central themes discussed in this research are: 1) the emergence of a new category of teachers who have shifted into education from other careers in law, the professions, and management; 2) the lack of sustained, school-based professional development programs for new teachers and the effects of this deficit; 3) the tendency of schools to maintain veteran-oriented professional cultures which are not particularly supportive of the new teachers and their needs; and 4) the importance of organized professional development and support.
The article consisted of a narrative rather than a statistical explication of the results of the study conducted by the researchers. It was a qualitative rather than quantitative description drawing upon case vignettes. The major finding was that schools should create mechanisms designed to assist novice or new teachers in developing the skills needed for effective classroom practice.
The information provided by Johnson and Kardos (2002) appears to be a narrative summary of some of the experiences of a sample of 50 new teachers in Massachusetts. References to the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers occur throughout the article, but relatively limited empirical or statistical data is presented in this particular article. The data that is presented strongly supports the assumption that many new teachers in America's public
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