By Alison Hogan

To help prepare 100 new teachers who will be entering Region 9 this year, Teachers Network, a non profit education organization, with support from the Citigroup Foundation, is launching its New Teacher Support Program in Manhattan while continuing to serve 500 new teachers in Brooklyn. This program, which launched in Region 8 last year and is now expanding to Region 9 (from lower Manhattan up through the East Side), aims to reduce New York City's high teacher turnover rate by providing essential support and resources to 600 beginning teachers.

"Scores of beginning teachers potentially great educators are fleeing the classroom at alarmingly high rates, often leaving behind the most vulnerable students. With alternative certification programs such as NYC Teaching Fellows, it is crucial to offer teachers extensive support as they start their journey in the classroom," explains Ellen Dempsey, CEO and president of Teachers Network and a former public school teacher. "Our program provides invaluable resources, such as lesson plans and instructional techniques, as teachers face the daunting tasks of managing a classroom and navigating the public school system."

New York City teachers of all grades can rely on the New Teacher Support Program materials for curriculum ideas, lesson plans, and assistance. New teachers in participating schools will receive Teachers Network's materials that were designed by teachers, for teachers. These include their publication, the New Teachers Handbook and the accompanying CD ROM set, Successful Teaching Practices in Action, available for both high school and elementary school teachers.

As part of the New Teacher Support Program, teachers become enrolled in the New Teacher OnLine Survival Courses, a series of five courses, facilitated by veteran teachers. Pre approved by the New York City Department of Education, educators can access them from any computer and walk through the classes at their pace on their own time, an important feature during the chaotic first years in teaching. Teachers can also log on to www.teachernetwork.org and ask questions to experienced professionals, as well as access over 600 lesson plans and instructional units.

The retention of good teachers was of concern to the management of the clothing company, Jones New York.

Earlier this year, they formed Jones New York In The Classroom, Inc., a not for profit corporation working to support teachers and improve education. And last month, they gave a $350,000 grant to the New teacher Academy (NTA), part of Teachers College Innovations at Teachers College, Columbia University. These funds will bring the New Teacher Academy into four new areas Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Prince George's County, Maryland while funding a continuing program at Louis D. Brandeis High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Two hundred teachers will benefit from this new grant.

The New Teacher Academy is a year long program in which experienced teachers serve as program facilitators for new teacher groups after receiving intensive professional development from Teachers College Innovations. "New teachers face so many challenges in their early years in the profession that it is estimated that almost 20 percent leave in their first year and 50 percent are gone within five years," says Innovations president, Ann Armstrong.

And if you purchased Jones New York apparel at Macy's the third week of October, you helped boost teacher training, too. Ten percent of sales in that week went to the Jones New York In The Classroom program.