School New Teacher Check-In
A monthly leader-rounding conversation for principals to check in with first-year teachers, surface blockers, and assign visible follow-through on support, resources, and mentorship.
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Built for: K 12 Public Schools · Independent And Charter Schools · District Teacher Induction Programs · Higher Education Teaching Departments
Overview
School New Teacher Check-In is a staff rounding template for a principal, assistant principal, or instructional leader to use with teachers and support staff in their first year. It is set to a 30-day cadence and creates a short, repeatable conversation about whether the person feels ready to teach, has the materials and classroom resources they need, can access a useful mentor, and can manage the current workload.
The first five prompts provide typed signals through scales, boolean answers, and a workload choice. That makes it possible to see patterns across new teachers without turning the conversation into a long survey. The optional issue capture asks directly what is getting in the way of teaching or classroom setup, while recognition pick creates a deliberate moment to acknowledge a colleague or mentor. The closing text prompt asks what would make the next month easier, giving the leader a forward-looking action to carry into the next round.
Use this template for monthly staff rounding, new teacher induction, and 30-60-90 day support conversations. After every round, convert a raised issue into stoplight follow-through with an owner and due date that the teacher can see. Do not use it as a classroom observation rubric, teacher appraisal, disciplinary record, student survey, or clinical rounding form. If a formal evaluation or safeguarding concern arises, route it through the school's established process rather than treating this conversation as the official record.
How to use this template
- Clone the template, confirm the 30-day cadence, and customize only the wording or audience-specific details your school needs.
- Assign each new teacher to a principal, assistant principal, instructional coach, or other leader who can act on classroom and workload blockers.
- Run the eight prompts as a brief conversational round, using the typed answers to keep the discussion focused and asking for context when a response signals concern.
- Record every raised blocker as an issue with a named owner, due date, and red, yellow, or green stoplight status visible to the teacher who raised it.
- Review mentor access, resource gaps, workload signals, and leadership-support trends across rounds without turning the results into a rating of individual teachers.
- Close the loop before the next monthly round by updating issue status, recognizing helpful colleagues, and asking whether the prior action actually improved the teacher's work.
Best practices
- Run the round in a private setting where a new teacher can speak honestly without students, peers, or evaluators listening.
- Ask each prompt conversationally in the second person and use the typed response to guide a short follow-up rather than reading the set like a survey.
- Treat a low confidence, stretched workload, or missing-resource response as a cue to ask what would help and create an issue when action is needed.
- Give every raised issue an owner and due date before ending the round, and keep the stoplight status visible to the person who raised it.
- Review mentor-related responses for access and usefulness, not merely whether a scheduled meeting technically occurred.
- Use the recognition prompt to name a specific colleague or mentor and follow through with the appropriate acknowledgment.
- Keep this set short enough for a two-minute floor conversation; move lengthy problem-solving into a separate meeting rather than adding more free-text questions.
- Compare trends across monthly rounds while protecting the teacher's privacy and avoiding use of the answers as an informal performance rating.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
Who should use the School New Teacher Check-In template?
Principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, and other school leaders can run this staff round with first-year teachers and support staff. The conversation is designed for a leader who can remove blockers or connect the teacher with someone who can. Assign a consistent round owner so follow-through does not disappear between meetings.
How often should new teachers be rounded on?
This template is set to a 30-day cadence, making it suitable for a monthly check-in during the first year. Increase the frequency during onboarding, a major classroom transition, or a period of acute workload pressure. Keep the conversation short enough to run from a phone and use the stoplight ledger to monitor issues between rounds.
What does this check-in cover?
The questions cover classroom confidence, materials and resources, mentor access, workload, leadership support, blockers, recognition, and one forward-looking request. Most answers are typed as scale, boolean, choice, issue capture, or recognition so trends can be aggregated across rounds. The two optional prompts give the teacher room to name a specific issue or next-month need.
Is this a teacher evaluation or compliance survey?
No. This is a staff-support conversation, not a performance appraisal, observation rubric, or regulatory record. It should surface conditions affecting the teacher's work and create practical follow-through, without rating the person or replacing formal evaluation processes.
What is a common mistake when running this round?
A common pitfall is treating the questions as a box-checking form instead of a brief conversation. Ask the prompts naturally, listen for context, and convert any blocker into an issue with an owner, due date, and red, yellow, or green status visible to the person who raised it. Do not promise an immediate fix unless you can assign and track it.
Can I customize the template for different schools or teacher roles?
Yes. Keep the core questions that make monthly trends comparable, then adjust wording or add a role-specific prompt for grade level, special education, specialist teaching, or support staff. Preserve typed response formats and limit the set to four to eight questions when a two-minute conversation is the goal.
Can responses connect to issue tracking or leadership dashboards?
The issue capture, recognition pick, and typed answers are structured for aggregation and follow-through in the rounding workspace. Map raised issues to an owner, due date, and stoplight status, then review patterns by school, grade band, or leader. Use integrations only where access controls protect confidential staff conversations.
How should we roll this out across a school or district?
Start with one principal or instructional leader, define the monthly cadence, and agree on what counts as a closed issue before expanding. Train leaders to ask the prompts conversationally and to close the loop visibly with teachers. Review themes after the first few rounds, then standardize the questions that produce useful signals while allowing limited local customization.
How is this better than asking new teachers informally how things are going?
An informal check-in can build rapport but often produces inconsistent coverage and no record of follow-through. This template gives every new teacher a predictable opportunity to discuss readiness, resources, mentorship, workload, and support. Structured answers make recurring blockers visible while still leaving space for a specific issue and a recognition moment.
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