District Administration - July 2007 - (Page 64)

ResearchCorner ESSENTIALS ON EDUCATION DATA and RESEARCH ANALYSIS Recruitment and Retention of Highly Qualiﬁed Teachers By Edvantia T HE SECRET, A RECENT movie, promotes the law of attraction, the notion that we attract what we think about. Can district leaders attract great teachers by simply thinking about what their schools would be like if all positions were ﬁlled with highly qualiﬁed individuals? It might be a good exercise for vision setting, but research suggests that schools need to match recruitment and retention eﬀorts to the characteristics and motivations of teachers and teaching candidates. Very little research focuses on the selection of eﬀective teachers, so this discussion will focus on highly qualiﬁed teachers. To attract highly qualiﬁed teachers, district leaders can partner with teacher preparation programs, streamline the hiring process, and oﬀer a locally competitive compensation package. Some research suggests that schools could retain more teachers if school leaders promote good working conditions, an atmosphere of collegial support, meaningful involvement in decision making, and a focus on student learning. Providing Pathways Partnerships with regional teacher preparation programs can be especially beneﬁcial for hard-to-staﬀ schools and schools in rural or urban settings. We know that nationally, teaching positions are hardest to ﬁll in science, mathematics and special education. Such partnerships can support a “grow-your-own” approach by establishing pathways to the teaching profession for local high school students, out-ofﬁeld teachers, school paraprofessionals and second-career adults. This approach increases the pool of teacher candidates who are motivated to seek local employ- Who’s Leaving the Profession? Empirical studies ﬁnd that teachers with these characteristics are more likely to leave the profession: ✓ Have taught for less than ﬁve years ✓ Are near retirement ✓ Are white ✓ Teach math or science ✓ Have higher measured ability ✓ Are female Source: Guarino, Santibanez & Daley 2006 ment because of ties to the community. Districts should concentrate their eﬀorts on subject areas in which teacher shortages are acute. A district can also team with institutions of higher education to ensure that teacher candidates are prepared to work in its local setting. Research Hiring practices, and not a small applicant pool, may be the problem in some districts. When The New Teacher Project studied hiring in four hard-to-staﬀ urban districts, researchers found that strategic recruitment yielded a multitude of applicants, but many of the best candidates withdrew their applications before hiring decisions were made in mid- to late summer. Withdrawers “had signiﬁcantly higher GPAs and were 40 percent more likely to have a degree in their teaching ﬁeld than new hires.” The majority of those who withdrew cited late hiring as their reason for accepting employment elsewhere. The researchers recommended that district leaders work with teacher unions and others toward requiring earlier notiﬁcation by teachers who plan to retire or resign, reforming collective bargaining transfer requirements, addressing budget barriers, and streamlining the hiring process. RAND researcher Cassandra Guarino and associates recently reviewed the empirical literature on teacher recruitment and retention and conﬁrmed that teacher compensation is also a factor, noting that teachers’ job decisions can be inﬂuenced by salaries oﬀered in other districts and in ﬁelds outside of teaching. However, dissatisfaction with salary is not the only reason teachers switch jobs. According to Sabrina Laine, director of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, “Research shows that teachers often leave high-poverty, low-performing, atrisk schools because they have not been adequately prepared to teach in such challenging environments and lack muchneeded support from administrators.” Support for new teachers often takes the form of induction and mentoring programs. Guarino and associates’ analyses of recent Schools and Staﬃng Surveys found lower turnover rates among beginning teachers in schools with induction and mentoring programs, especially when the programs emphasized collegial support. The Education Commission of the States found limited evidence of their eﬀectiveness in its 2005 review of 91 studies on recruitment and retention. Interview data from a recent study conducted by Pamela Angelle suggest that principals’ involvement in teacher induction can improve retention. For example, principals can provide “professional socialization” in the form of frequent discussion, monitoring and feedback, which can lead to such gains. “Findings indicate socialDistrict Administration 64 July 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Facilities/Construction Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cover Story: Rethinking School Bus Safety
Broadening Collective Bargaining
Searching for Subs
Jersey City’s Broad Appeal
Improving Nutrition in Schools
New Products
Computer Literature
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Research Corner
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Supervisor’s Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - July 2007