HIRING PRACTICES Kaendall Brashear TYPICAL HIRING PRACTICE Post

HIRING PRACTICES Kaendall Brashear

TYPICAL HIRING PRACTICE Post job to job board. Candidates submit their resumes. Administrators review resumes of candidates. Interview (candidates are sometimes asked to perform a lesson in front of the committee). Review notes from interview and candidates application materials. Choose and hire a teacher.

BEDFORD JUNIOR HIGH Interview committee comprised of: � Administrators � Teachers � Parents � Students � Me (this time) A good mix of individuals who will have something to offer to the decision. Is this really enough to determine who will be the best teacher? ?

THE TYPICAL INTERVIEW Candidates can speak about all of the wonderful things that they have done. Candidates often transform weaknesses into strengths. Usually you can tell right away who you don’t want to hire. How do you separate the decent candidates from the best candidates?

MAKE INTERVIEWS MORE MEANINGFUL #1 Clement (2002) � PAR (problem, action, and a result) “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a large number of students in a small space? ” � STAR (situation, task, action, and a result) “How have you dealt with assigning grades in high school English classes that required many writing assignments? ” This system will provide better answers than hypothetical questions. Exceptional candidates will refer back to a time in which they acted a certain way.

MAKE INTERVIEWS MORE MEANINGFUL #1 Before you ask interview questions determine whether an answer will be strong (S), adequate (A), or weak (W). � Train everyone on the committee on what will determine each. � Relieves the hiring committee from having to refer back to notes to determine who well each candidate answered the questions.

MAKE INTERVIEWS MORE MEANINGFUL #2 Poppano (2011): � Creating a series of events for the candidates to do: Phone screening, model lesson, an interview… E-mail exercise: Applicants are asked to respond to an e-mail from a fictional parent who is upset with her son’s biweekly progress report, which show he is doing poorly in reading.

MAKE INTERVIEWS MORE MEANINGFUL #3 Reeves (2007): � Candidates review and analyze data on student achievement and demographic characteristics for two separate classes. � The candidate is then asked a series of questions regarding their analysis. You want candidates who focus on different learning and leadership practices rather than focusing on the students characteristics in the classroom. Provide the candidate student work and have them grade it. � Include fictitious names in order to view how the candidate responds to students ethnicity.

CONCLUSION Teacher interviews must become more intense and involve real-world situations. Teaching has become more than just doing the job well. � By hiring the wrong teacher districts could be spending a lot of money on professional development or having to hire another new teacher. Over half of all new teachers leave the profession within the first five years of employment. By implementing new ideas into the hiring process districts can feel more confident when hiring new teachers.

REFERENCES Clement, M. C. (September, 2002) Help wanted: how to hire the best teachers. National Association of Secondary School Principals. 16 -21 Pappano, L. (2011) Using research to predict great teachers. Harvard Education Letter, 27(3). Reeves, D. (2007) Leading to change/ new ways to hire educators. Educational Leadership, 64(8). 8384