San José Unified School District | BTSA Induction Program

New Teacher Support Program
Commission-Approved BTSA Induction Program

Program Purpose

The purpose of SJUSD’s BTSA Induction Program for newly credentialed teachers is to

License preliminary credentialed teachers
Increase student achievement
Retain credentialed teachers Improve implementation of the California Standards for the Teaching Profession, California K-12 Academic Content Standards, and State/Board Adopted Texts

The program creates a supportive learning environment in which participating teachers learn from and with experienced educators, feel safe to apply newly acquired knowledge and skills to their classroom practice, and reflect upon their teaching to become consciously aware of effective instructional practices.

Program Design

San Jose Unified School District’s two-year job embedded BTSA Induction Program design is based on research findings that indicate new teachers benefit from mentoring, formative assessment, reflection, and structured professional development that builds upon the knowledge and skills each teacher acquired in their teacher preparation program. SJUSD’s BTSA Teacher Induction Program implements this research with:

Formal Professional Development that builds upon the knowledge and skills acquired in teacher preparation. Workshops are designed to provide knowledge and skills related to: teaching English learners; creating a healthy environment for student learning; supporting equity, diversity, and access to the core curriculum; teaching special student populations; and using technology to support student learning.

Formative Assessment designed to assess individual teaching practices in relation to the California Standards for the Teaching Profession, K-12 academic content standards, and performance levels for students and state-adopted curriculum frameworks. Within CFASST events and with the assistance of their support provider, participating teachers plan lessons, teach those lessons, collect and analyze student work from those lessons, and reflect upon the effectiveness of the lessons based upon student achievement. Throughout the action research of the CFASST events participating teachers focus on two students each year, a mainstream student and an English learner one year and a mainstream and a special learning needs student the next year. Selecting two students aids the new teacher in a concrete understanding of differentiated instruction and assessment that enables a teacher to meet the needs of all students.

Trained Support Providers serve as a coach and mentor in the reflective process of formative assessment to improve teaching practice and increase student achievement. SP professional development covers formative assessment, mentoring strategies, and induction completion requirements to prepare them for their role of supporting beginning teachers and for conducting formative assessment focused on improving teaching practice(s).
Learning Outcomes
Each participating teacher will make progress toward fully possessing the knowledge, skills, and abilities to:

Engage and support all students in learning,
Create and maintain an effective learning environment,
Understand and organize subject matter for student learning,
Plan instruction and design learning experiences for all students,
Assess student learning, and
Develop as an educator.