Overview
Promising Practices
- Employee referral programs
- Hire as early as possible
- Teacher residency programs
- Cultivate candidates with supplementary supports through hiring process
- Create “hand-offs” from local EPPs to district hiring staff
- Recruitment Bonuses
- Track how many new employees are hired from each recruitment medium
- Enhance staff capacity of HR to increase one-to-one relationship building with applicants
- Diversify sources and processes for finding teacher candidates
- Address bias in hiring
- Personal Educator Journeys
Promising Practice: Employee referral programs
Current employees know the culture and expectations of the district, the school and the position for which the district is hiring, making them uniquely qualified to recommend candidates who would be valuable contributors. Schools and districts can utilize existing staff members as recruiters by encouraging them to forward the contact information of potential hires to human resources managers.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Teachers of color are likely to know other qualified candidates of color through social networks and can forward contact information to the human resources department. |
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Spotlights
Spotlight: KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) NYC’s and Uncommon Schools’ employee referral programs (MA, NJ, NY)
Description | Many school districts offer referral bonuses for referring a candidate who is ultimately hired. The only requirement is to forward the contact information of the person being referred and the recruitment team does the rest, including contacting every referral. |
Scope of Reach | KIPP Schools and Uncommon Schools |
Timeframe | Ongoing |
Budget / Sources of funds | KIPP NYC currently offers $1,000 per successful hire to the referring individual. In the first year of the program, however, KIPP started with smaller rewards, such as a $100 gift card per successful hire, plus a $100 gift card to the employee who referred the most candidates. Uncommon Schools offers $1,000 for referrals for immediate hire and $500 for all other referrals. |
Actor(s) Implementing | KIPP NYC Recruitment Team and Uncommon Schools |
Results |
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Promising Practice: Hire as early as possible
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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The most qualified teaching candidates receive and accept job offers early in the hiring season. Therefore, districts should consider posting teaching vacancies, interviewing and extending offers as early in the hiring season (February/March) as possible. A study done by the Indiana Department of Education found that 60% of teachers hired from March to May were “highly effective” compared to 40% of those hired later in the hiring season. (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) |
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Promising Practice: Teacher residency programs
Residency programs place teacher candidates in the classroom after short, intensive summer training programs. Candidates continue to take prep classes and complete certification requirements part-time while teaching full-time.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Potential educators of color can face high financial costs when obtaining a degree and certification, especially if they are unable to simultaneously work full time. |
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Spotlights
Spotlight: New York City Teaching Fellowship (NYCTF) (NY)
Description | Regarded as one of the most prestigious alternate route to certification programs, NYCTF fellows receive an intensive summer training course, including a $2,500 stipend, and are placed in NYC public schools to teach in high-needs subject areas while earning master’s degrees at one of the fellowship’s partner universities. Fellows who join the NYCTF Bronx Cohort are hired early and receive reduced tuition, networking, support, and opportunities for loan assistance programs such as AmeriCorps. |
Scope of Reach | Open to Bachelor’s degree candidates who are not certified to teach in any state and have not completed an educator preparation program (EPP). |
Timeframe | 2000 - present |
Budget / Sources of funds | NYCTF received $35 million from the New York State Department of Education, which has received two federal grants to subsidize the program at partner universities. The school district pays two-thirds the cost of licensure via master’s degree ($8,000) and the candidate pays the other one-third ($4,000) through a payroll deduction. |
Actor(s) Implementing | Collaboration between The New Teacher Project (TNTP) and the NYC Department of Education; fellows earn master’s degrees at partner universities throughout New York City. |
Results |
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Promising Practice: Cultivate candidates with supplementary supports through hiring process
It is important for districts to provide a variety of recruitment strategies and support programs that can be tailored to each potential teacher candidate during the hiring process. Such supports may include relocation assistance, housing credit, and a connection to local affinity groups.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Connecting teachers of color to resources and local affinity groups can help to build relationships with other educators. |
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References: |
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Connecticut Housing and Finance Authority Mortgage Assistance Programs for Teachers Workplace Support and Diversity in the Market for Public School Teachers |
Promising Practice: Create “hand-offs” from local EPPs to district hiring staff
Develop a relationship with educator preparation programs (EPPs) geographically located in the district to provide formal and informal pathways. These might include guaranteed interviews, internship placements that lead to full-time jobs for successful EPP students, and extra supports through the application process.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Graduating students of color are in high demand across the country; it is ideal to keep Connecticut-trained teachers in Connecticut classrooms. |
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References: |
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Partnering on Prep: A Toolkit for Building Strong District-Teacher Preparation Program Partnerships Transforming Educator Preparation: Lessons Learned from Leading States (CT) |
Promising Practice: Recruitment Bonuses
Teacher salaries in high-poverty districts are on average lower than those in low-poverty districts. To counteract this imbalance, districts can offer a one-time hiring bonus to teachers who choose to teach in hard-to-staff schools as well as those who are certified to teach in shortage areas.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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The promise of a higher salary can make teaching in a high-poverty district more attractive to teachers of color. |
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How are Districts and States Using Pay to Staff High-Need Schools and Subjects? |
Promising Practice: Track how many new employees are hired from each recruitment channel
Tracking and disaggregating data by race, ethnicity, and languages spoken can help human resources departments determine which recruitment strategies produce the greatest diversity benefit in order to plan for the next recruitment cycle. States with similar education contexts to Connecticut (such as Oregon and Colorado) have included tracking such data in their strategic plans to increase the number of teachers of color hired.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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If human resources departments know which hiring strategies historically yield the most racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse candidates, they can focus energies on enhancing those strategies. This can ultimately help HR Departments strategically utilize limited resources. |
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EdSight: CT State Department of Education Data Portal CT PA 18-34 (Section 7) Developing and Implementing a Minority Teacher Recruitment Plan |
Promising Practice: Enhance staff capacity of HR to increase one-to-one relationship building with applicants
Staff human resources departments so that they have the capacity to assign each applicant a team member to support them through the application process. The HR staff member can also connect the applicant with other resources offered to new hires.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Relationship building is an asset in recruiting teacher candidates, particularly those who are highly sought by other states and districts. |
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References: |
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Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse, High-Quality Workforce |
Promising Practice: Diversify sources and processes for finding teacher candidates
Human resources practices in education tend to rely on traditional approaches such as job fairs. However, in an effort to create opportunities for potential teachers to develop a relationship with schools and districts, consider creating multiple pathways through which candidates can become connected to the hiring process.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Human resources departments can increase the number of touch points for initial contacts they receive for quality applicants by tapping into the networks of teacher candidates. |
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Connecticut Troops to Teachers Social Media Tops Print as News Source Education Week, To Connect With Candidates, School Recruiters Hone Social Media Skills |
Spotlights
Spotlight: Connecticut Troops to Teachers (CT)
Description | A program for all service members and veterans to receive customized assistance in transitioning their leadership, core values, and acquired skills to a career in teaching. |
Scope of Reach | Statewide |
Timeframe | 2018 - Present |
Budget / Sources of funds | Grant from the US Department of Defense |
Actor(s) Implementing | The CSDE Talent Office |
Results |
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Spotlight: Using social media as a recruitment tool (IN)
Description | A district human resources director in Indianapolis saw a Facebook post from Butler University celebrating a graduating education major’s win for a prestigious future teacher award. The HR director commented on the Facebook post, “She needs to come interview with me at Washington Township.” The student, who had not yet started her job search because she had been told most schools weren’t hiring yet, followed up. |
Scope of Reach | According to a November 2015 Pew Research study, 35% of social media users utilize social media for employment opportunities. Twenty-one percent of users have applied for a position they found on social media. |
Timeframe | Current |
Budget / Sources of funds | N/A |
Actor(s) Implementing | Washington Township Schools Human Resources Department |
Results |
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Promising Practice: Address bias in hiring
Research has shown that White teaching candidates are hired much more often than candidates of color with the same qualifications. There is also a misconception that prioritizing diversity in the hiring process somehow equates to lowering the standards of hiring quality teachers. If the current teaching staff lacks diversity, hiring committees that make “social fit” a significant factor in decision making further reduce the likelihood that candidates of color will be chosen to advance in the educator pipeline.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Candidates of color are less likely to be overlooked in the hiring process if hiring committees are proactive in examining their own potential for racial bias. |
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Promising Practice: Personal Educator Journeys
Elevating and understanding the voices, unique opportunities and challenges teachers of color face can assist districts in advocating for the best interests of students and teachers. Personal educator stories that describe the district, school, and position in terms of the added value each provides is one strategy for attracting teachers of color. Storytelling can help illustrate the positive impact that the ideal teacher candidate will have on the students with whom he or she will work.
Research/Evidence Shows: | Recommended Actions: |
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Educators of color often cite moral and values-based reasons for wanting to teach. Testimonials indicate an interest in a teaching career as an opportunity to not only serve their communities but to act as change agents. |
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Through Our Eyes: Perspectives and Reflections from Black Teachers |
Spotlights
Spotlight: TEACH Connecticut (CT)
Description | The TEACH Connecticut campaign is led by the Connecticut State Department of Education and aims to provide tools and services that raise the image of the teaching profession, reduce the number of vacancies in certification shortage areas, and improve the quality and the diversity of new teacher supply. |
Scope of Reach | TEACH Connecticut |
Timeframe | 2018 - present |
Budget / Sources of funds | Funded by Microsoft in partnership with Teach.org and the Buck Foundation. The CT State Department of Education maintains a management position and supports the work of the TEACH team. |
Actor(s) Implementing | Collaboration between the CSDE and TEACH.org |
Results | The website aims to:
As of March 2019, TEACH Connecticut has partnered with 15 educator preparation programs and 66 school districts. Most partners have descriptive profiles on the site for users to gain a deeper understanding of pathways to certification and the variety of educational communities available for teachers to serve Connecticut's students. |