PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- In the sink-or-swim approach that first-year teachers have endured for decades, Sabrina Scott-Feggins was hired, thrown into a classroom and told to teach. There was no guidance, and little help.

Times have changed. Instead of watching other new teachers struggle through the same process, Scott-Feggins is now a full-time teacher coach, advising and monitoring young educators.

It's a method being used in a growing numbers of school systems nationwide to stem the tide of young teachers quitting early in their careers for reasons that include lack of support, low pay and discipline problems among students.

"There are times I might have walked out the door if she wasn't here," said Sandra Callahan, 28, one of 17 first-year teachers mentored by Scott-Feggins, who taught elementary school for nine years before becoming a coach. "You might think 'Oh my God, I can't do this,' and she puts it into perspective."

The new approach of easing rookie teachers into their jobs is beginning to replace the long-standing habit of coping with the never-ending shortage of teachers by simply recruiting new ones.

"That change in understanding has begun in just a year," said Tom Carroll, president of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. "They're adopting the right strategies."

"There is a growing recognition of the importance of retention," said Richard M. Ingersoll, an education and sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Traditionally that hasn't been the case. It's always been an easy-in, easy-out occupation."

A study by Ingersoll found that a third of new teachers quit within three years and almost half quit within five.

Incentives to stay
North Carolina this year began studying strategies to reduce its 10,000 yearly vacancies. Florida announced its intention to cut turnover by half. Virginia started a mentoring pilot program.

"It does no good to bring a lot of teachers into the system if many of them feel overwhelmed and leave," said Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education.

School districts offer gym memberships and child care assistance as incentives to stay. Others subsidize car and home loans.

Pittsburg, California, passed a zero-interest home loan program for new teachers this month. "It's a retention effort aimed at anybody who will come to our school district and is a good teacher," said Vice Mayor Nancy Parent.

But young teachers are more interested in having coaches than monetary incentives, said Melinda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union.

"For a long time teaching was a sink-or-swim type of profession," Anderson said. "The mentoring programs are helping with that."

Philadelphia hired 65 teacher coaches this year, and schools chief Paul Vallas said the district's retention rate has risen from about 80 percent to 93 percent. A new standard curriculum and twice-monthly professional development sessions also aid young teachers.

"We're training them and then we're nurturing them," he said. "From all the anecdotes I've gotten it's been very positive."

Carroll estimates that a teacher who quits after one year costs $13,500 in lost recruitment and training. After three years, the cost is $50,000.

A good mentoring program costs about $3,000 per teacher.

A new study by Ingersoll, using National Center for Education Statistics data, shows that using mentors works: About 40 percent of new teachers with no support leave after one year, while only 17 percent of teachers with a mentor and additional community support quit.

"It's the investment you need up front to see results on the back end," said Tomas Hanna, director of teacher recruitment and retention for Philadelphia.

Hanna said Philadelphia's mentors have made it their mission to not lose a teacher.

"A new teacher coach can cut down on the time it takes to scan a new environment and be successful in it," Hanna said. "Teachers are saying if it wasn't for my teacher coach, I wouldn't still be here."