COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

PRINS. MEMO NO. 7

January 20, 2004

ELEMENTARY / MIDDLE / SECONDARY

TO:	Principals
FROM:	Patricia I. Wright Assistant Superintendent for Instruction
SUBJECT:	Interest Survey to Participate in the Governors Education for a Lifetime Teacher Retention and Support Initiatives

In the fall of 2003 Governor Warner launched his initiative entitled Education for a Lifetime (http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Initiatives/Ed4Life/index.htm),

which includes several components. One focus of the broad initiative is Teacher Retention and Support. In this component, the Governor proposed several ways to retain teachers who are new to the profession and to support hard-to-staff and consistently low-performing schools in filling their teaching vacancies and improving student achievement.

Two of the elements, the Virginia Middle School Teacher Corps and the Turnaround Specialist Program, offer opportunities and incentives for experienced educators to receive additional training to share their expertise in challenging educational environments. Further details about these two programs is available in Superintendents Memorandum, Informational, No. 1, dated January 9, 2004, located at: /administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/inf001.html.

Attachment A to that memorandum contains an interest survey for individuals who wish to receive additional information about these programs once more details are available.

If you have questions about the Governors Teacher Retention and Support initiative, please contact Dr. Linda Wallinger, acting director, Office of Program Administration and Accountability, at (804) 225-2869, or by e-mail at lwalling@mail.vak12ed.edu.

PIW/LMW/saj