Most schools have a new teacher onboarding checklist. The trouble is that it usually ends around lunchtime on the first day. Badge, keys, a parking pass, a login, a stack of forms, a handshake, and then the new hire is on their own. The first 90 days for a new teacher are where confidence is built or quietly lost, and a checklist that stops after paperwork leaves the most important part to chance.
This is not a small problem. Richard Ingersoll's landmark research at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education finds that about 44 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. A meaningful share of that loss is set in motion during the first months, when a new teacher is deciding whether this school is a place they can survive, let alone grow. Onboarding new teachers well is the earliest, cheapest thing you can do about it.
How to use this checklist
What follows is a phased checklist across five stages: before day one, week one, the first 30 days, the first 90 days, and beyond. Each phase covers the same three threads, logistics, relationships, and clear expectations, and each one leans on a named mentor and early, supportive coaching. Do not treat these as boxes to close and forget. Treat onboarding as the opening chapter of a full-year induction, not a one-day event.
Why first-week onboarding is not enough
A new teacher can have a flawless first day and still be gone by spring. Orientation solves logistics, but logistics were never the thing that pushes people out. What wears a new teacher down is the slow accumulation of being unsupported: no one to ask the small questions, feedback that only ever arrives as a rating, and a creeping sense that no one is actually watching how the year is going for them.
The research points at the same fix from a different angle. Stanford's Center for Education Policy Analysis finds that administrative support, professional growth, and recognition are among the strongest predictors of whether teachers stay. Those are not things you hand over on day one. They are built over weeks and months, which is exactly why onboarding has to be phased and has to extend past the first week.
Phase 1. Before day one
The goal: a new teacher walks in already expected, equipped, and claimed by a mentor.
The worst first impression is a new teacher standing in an empty room that is not ready for them, chasing a login that does not work. Every logistical friction you clear before they arrive is trust you have banked. Get the boring things done early so week one can be about people, not passwords.
- Finish credentialing, payroll, benefits, and system access before the first day, so none of it eats into instruction time later.
- Have the classroom ready: keys, furniture, technology, curriculum materials, and class rosters in hand.
- Assign a named mentor before day one and introduce them by email, so the new teacher already has one person who is theirs.
- Send a warm, human welcome from the principal that says more than logistics: who to find, where to park, what the first day will feel like.
- Separate the compliance tasks from the welcome, so a new teacher is not drowning in forms while trying to feel at home.
See how districts stage this: new-teacher onboarding.
Phase 2. Week one
The goal: relationships, clear expectations, and a safe way to ask for help.
Week one is not for firehosing policy. It is for belonging and orientation to the human systems of the building. A new teacher needs to know who to go to, what is actually expected of them, and that asking a question is welcomed rather than judged. Front-load relationships and clarity, and let the details follow.
- Protect real time for the mentor and new teacher to meet in the first week, not just an introduction in the hallway.
- Make expectations concrete and written down: what a strong first month looks like, and how success will be described.
- Introduce the people, not just the org chart: the team, the front office, the specialists, and who solves which kind of problem.
- Say clearly that early questions are expected and welcome, and name the low-stakes channel for asking them.
- Have the principal make an early, informal appearance that is plainly supportive rather than evaluative.
A named mentor is the anchor of week one: new-teacher induction.
Phase 3. The first 30 days
The goal: early coaching that feels like support, not judgment.
By the end of the first month, the shine has worn off and the real challenges have arrived: pacing, classroom management, the gap between the plan and the room. This is the moment early coaching matters most. The first time someone watches a new teacher teach should be framed as help, not as a rating, or you teach them to hide exactly the struggles you most need to see.
- Schedule the first observation as a supportive, developmental visit, and say plainly that it is not part of a summative rating.
- Keep coaching cycles small: one or two concrete moves at a time, not the whole rubric at once.
- Check the practical basics: is the grading system clear, are families being contacted, is the workload survivable?
- Give the principal visibility into who is on track and who is quietly struggling, before it hardens into a resignation.
Keep early feedback growth-first and separate from evaluation: instructional coaching.
Phase 4. The first 90 days
The goal: growth made visible, connection to the wider staff, and an honest check-in.
Around the 90-day mark, a new teacher is no longer new to the building but not yet settled. This is where onboarding turns into development. Name what they are working toward, connect them to more than their mentor, and have one honest conversation about how the year is actually going, from both sides. Since professional growth is one of the strongest predictors of whether teachers stay, this is where you make it real.
- Set a small number of growth goals with the new teacher, tied to what they are actually finding hard, and revisit them.
- Connect any required professional development to those goals, so learning has a purpose rather than being a day to endure.
- Widen the circle beyond the mentor: a grade-level team, a content peer, or a cohort of other new teachers.
- Hold a genuine two-way check-in: what is working, what is not, and what the school will change to help.
- Recognize early wins specifically and out loud, so the new teacher knows their effort is being seen.
Connect early growth to development that continues past onboarding: PD and license tracking and a full-year induction.
Phase 5. Beyond 90 days: hand off to induction
The goal: onboarding flows into a full-year induction, with no drop-off.
The most common failure point is not the first 90 days at all. It is day 91, when the intensive support quietly stops and the new teacher is left to sink or swim through the hardest stretch of the year. Onboarding is the front end of induction, not a separate program. The hand-off should be so smooth the new teacher never feels the gear change.
- Keep the mentoring relationship going across the full first year, with checkpoints in the winter and spring, not just the fall.
- Continue coaching cycles through the middle of the year, when motivation dips and the workload is heaviest.
- Carry induction into a second and third year for the moves that only make sense once the basics are solid.
- Ask the new teacher, near the end of year one, what onboarding got right and what it missed, and use it to improve the next cohort.
See the full-year runway: new-teacher induction.
A connected approach: from hired to thriving
Read the five phases back to back and the point becomes obvious. None of them stands alone. The mentor assigned before day one is the same relationship that carries into induction. The first supportive observation is the start of the coaching cycles. The 90-day growth goals are the beginning of a development path. Run each phase as a separate task on a separate spreadsheet and the seams show, so new teachers fall through the cracks between them.
That is the case for treating onboarding not as a checklist to close out but as the opening of one connected experience. When onboarding, mentoring, coaching, growth goals, and PD share the same picture of each new teacher, the principal can see who is thriving and who is drifting, and support stops being accidental.
This is the problem EX in Education was built for. Onboarding hands off to induction, coaching, and growth inside one connected experience, so the phases in this checklist work together instead of in isolation. Bring your own onboarding process, or start from proven templates, and run it across every school so every educator moves from hired to thriving.
Frequently asked questions
What should a new teacher onboarding checklist include?
A strong checklist covers four phases. Before day one: logistics, credentials, a ready classroom, and a named mentor assigned. Week one: relationships, expectations, and how to get help. First 30 days: early coaching, a first observation framed as support, and a check on the practical basics. First 90 days: growth goals, connection to the wider staff, and an honest conversation about how the year is going. Onboarding should hand off to a full-year induction rather than stop after paperwork.
How long should teacher onboarding last?
Think of onboarding as the front end of a multi-year process, not a one-day event. The intensive part spans the first 90 days, but it should flow directly into an induction and mentoring program that runs across the entire first year, and ideally into a second and third year. Support that ends after orientation is a common reason new teachers struggle and leave.
What is the difference between onboarding and induction?
Onboarding is the front end: getting a new teacher set up, welcomed, and clear on expectations in the first weeks. Induction is the longer arc: the mentoring, coaching, and structured support that continues across the first year or more. Good onboarding hands off cleanly into induction so a new teacher never feels dropped once the paperwork is done.
Why do new teachers leave?
Early-career teachers are the most at risk: about 44 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. The common thread is a first year without real support: no named mentor, feedback that only arrives as a rating, and unclear expectations. Research points to administrative support, professional growth, and recognition as among the strongest predictors of whether teachers stay, and those are exactly what strong onboarding and induction provide.