Teacher support.

A study of newly hired teachers in five states discovered a substantial difference in support given to them that depended on socioeconomics of the student body.

The study, "The Support Gap: New Teachers' Early Experiences in High-Income and Low-Income Schools," was directed by lead researcher Susan Moore Johnson of Harvard. In describing the support gap, the study found new teachers in low-income schools to be less likely than their counterparts in high-income schools to experience timely and information-rich hiring, to benefit from mentoring and support by experienced colleagues and to have a curriculum that is complete and aligned with state stand-ards, yet flexible for use in the classroom.

Such patterns of difference between high-income and low-income schools reveal broad patterns of inequity, which can have severe consequences for low-income students, the researchers contend.

Survey data for this study were collected from random samples of teachers in five states. One survey, focusing on hiring practices and teachers' relationships with colleagues, was administered to 374 first-year and second-year teachers in Florida, Massachusetts and Michigan. A second survey, focusing on curriculum, was administered to 295 second-year elementary school teachers in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Washington.

The study can be accessed directly from the recent articles listings of the Education Policy Analysis Archives at epaa.asu.edu.