How to Support Struggling Teachers

In many professions, there is a gradual training and onboarding process so that those with less experience can progress through levels of knowledge and skill. A prime example is medicine, which includes not only an internship but also several years of residency before doctors are considered experts in their chosen specialties. In teaching, the most fortunate newcomers get a year of student teaching with a mentor before entering the classroom solo, but depending on the school or district, that might not happen. Too often, teachers are thrown into the classroom without much training or support, and the message is clear: sink or swim. 

Aside from being completely unfair to anyone who chose to enter this profession only to be treated as though they don’t matter, the inherent belief that teaching is an innate talent is highly flawed. Furthermore, schools often get trapped in a vicious cycle of hiring new teachers, neglecting them, and then either letting them go when their performance is below par or having to replace them when they leave as the result of total burnout. To start changing systems that clearly do not work well, below are a few suggestions to help us do a better job with supporting struggling teachers so that they remain in the profession.

Be Present and Knowledgeable

School leaders are always in triage mode; fires erupt everywhere, constantly. Unfortunately, the unpredictable nature of an administrator’s life means that observing instruction takes a frequent backseat to more pressing matters. However, the problem with always being overwhelmed with tasks that are disconnected from instruction is that it can be difficult for leaders to get a strong sense of how teachers in the building are getting by, especially newcomers to the profession. 

Where possible, it is therefore crucial that teachers receive visits and feedback from leaders as regularly as possible. When administrators are a consistent classroom presence, any decisions they make about what teachers need is grounded in real information rather than in guesswork. In addition, it helps to be familiar with the curriculum (or at least, the key components of the curriculum) in each class so that when classroom observations occur, it is possible to see how students are progressing in relation to course standards. 

Approach Support with Collaboration

I used to work with a supervisor who disliked the word “support” in reference to his work; he preferred to use the term “partner.” I always appreciated his take, especially since teachers and leaders work toward the same goal: moving student growth forward. Rather than just tell someone who is struggling what to do, which can be confusing or get lost in translation, one upgrade to try is engaging in collaborative lesson planning with teachers who need a little more information about how to be successful. For anyone who wants to go above and beyond, there is also the option of either modeling or co-teaching a lesson, just to give a newer or struggling teacher a much clearer picture about what good first instruction looks like in practice, and not just in theory. 

Gather Accurate Data Over Time

Snap judgments rarely make logical sense, and that holds especially true when we try to gauge how effective anyone is in the classroom. When teachers struggle, getting to the root cause of their challenges can only be observed with accuracy over time; we cannot judge one day of instruction and think we have figured out the problem. Rather, it is the gathering of specific information through repeated observation and surgical analysis of student performance data that provides a much more accurate picture.

For school leaders who are short on time, any kind of extended observation is not necessary to gather important data. Rather, a series of shorter observations over a period of a few months that span anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes can yield a lot of information. In addition, relying on multiple data points that are quantitative and qualitative is the best way to get as clear a picture as possible into how a teacher is performing. For example, if classroom grades are high but students are behind their peers in other classrooms, one question might be whether a teacher is holding students to an appropriate standard. If a clear area of growth emerges for the teacher, then approach any consequent action from a place of partnership, not punishment. Again, very few people are born knowing how to be excellent teachers.

Offer Solutions

When I used to teach my students how to peer review one another’s work, I always explained that it was far easier to find what was wrong with something than to pinpoint what was good about it. Identifying a problem is usually not that hard; developing a solution, however, can be more difficult. 

Suppose a new teacher is struggling with a typical problem in her first year: classroom management. Rather than point out all the ways that students are off task, help the teacher brainstorm how to improve the situation. For example, if kids are rowdy when the bell rings and have a hard time settling down, maybe one specific upgrade that can be suggested is to insert structures into the start of class that get learning off to the right start, such as providing a clear activator for the day or implementing a series of steps to frame the learning. As teachers experiment with these ideas, the goal is for the leader to check in and discuss how things are going so that the teacher feels supported and their efforts are valued. 

Invest in People

This nation might be amid a teacher shortage, but that hasn’t translated to treating the profession (and those who work in it) with any added value. Instead, teachers are often regarded as expendable; when they underperform, the solution is usually to replace them rather than invest in their growth because it’s the fastest option. However, when we do not take time to prioritize the journeys of those we have hired, that not only stymies the career of anyone who is dismissed; it also creates instability within a school community as a revolving door of struggling teachers moves in and out. Therefore, even though it might be harder in the moment to give someone the time and attention they need, providing support and training to improve teaching practice is the only way to get out of a vicious cycle that disregards the needs of teachers who truly want to be there, but who cannot sustain their professional existence without some help.    

When new or struggling teachers fail, the responsibility for any poor outcomes almost always lies with instructional leaders. The truth is, nearly every teacher who exits the profession for poor performance or exhaustion wants to do good work; they do not set out to fail on purpose. However, because we give up on them too quickly, ignore their needs, or assume that people should be able to figure out this whole teaching thing on their own, we wind up losing scores of teachers who have the potential to be great. To break this unproductive cycle, making proactive plans to support new teachers—and sticking to those plans—can make all the difference. 

Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer

Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of several education books (both out and forthcoming) with W.W. Norton, ASCD and Solution Tree. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher with additional certification in administration and supervision. She can be reached at www.miriamplotinsky.com.

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