Seven school districts in Washington state have been awarded a total of nearly $800,000 in Beginning Educator Support Team grants to help beginning teachers grow in their profession, State Superintendent Randy Dorn announced today. The awards will be used by school districts for hiring, orientation, mentoring, professional development and assessment for teacher growth.

“We want to keep teachers,” Dorn said. “There’s been a lot of research that suggests many teachers leave the profession within their first three years. Creating systems that give new teachers extra help will go a long way to keeping them.”

The Yakima School district will receive $169,000.

More From News Talk KIT