Spring is just around the corner and principal positions will be posted in school districts across the country. For every principal position posted and awarded, there are many aspiring school leaders who are not selected. Difficult conversations with teachers are challenging (which explains why many school leaders prefer to avoid them altogether). They are even more challenging when teachers … [Read more...]
What District Leaders Should Know About Veterans’ Preference in School Districts
Each November school districts across the country host programs to teach students to honor veterans for their service. For many districts, depending on their state laws, honoring and recognizing the service of veterans doesn’t wait until November. Veterans' Preference in school districts allows districts to recognize veterans in human resource decisions throughout the year. Too often though, … [Read more...]
Should Districts Use Personality Tests to Hire Teachers?
If your district is considering using personality tests to hire teachers, take a few moments to read through this article and consider if personality tests are a good fit for your hiring practices. While school leaders want to ensure they are hiring the most qualified staff members, you may find that personality tests aren't as useful as they appear to be. Imagine for a … [Read more...]
8 Strategies to Improve Onboarding for Teachers
Do extra efforts in the first several months of courtship help relationships last longer? Or, should someone entering a new relationship simply rely on spontaneity and allow fate take over? No this isn’t an article about dating. It is about the beginning of the employee/ employer relationship in school districts. More specifically, I want to focus on effective onboarding for teachers. We … [Read more...]
It’s Not Fair!: Do Perceptions of Fairness Matter in School District Hiring Practices?
(Use the link above to download a free resource to help your district develop fair and reliable teacher hiring processes) Strategically speaking, the goal of any school district hiring process should be to filter, identify, and select the most qualified applicants for open positions in a valid and reliable manner. However, the effectiveness of school district hiring practices does … [Read more...]
What School Districts Can Learn from Google’s Hiring Practices: Mistakes and Successes in Employee Selection
At the end of this article I am providing a free sample of a structured behavioral question with a sample scoring guide. These tools were developed after we completed a full job analysis for a school district for the job classification of certified teacher. We recommend that schools who are interested in improving their selection practices for teachers use the samples as a guideline only. Actual … [Read more...]
Total Rewards in School Districts: What are They and How to Use Them to Recruit & RetainTalent
“How much will I make?” This is likely the first question and largest determining factor that prospective talented teachers will try to determine before they choose their next school district employer. School districts that lead their local market in wages proudly flaunt starting salaries and their willingness to pay more than competing districts, while those who lag their local market often … [Read more...]
Resumes are a Waste of Time in Attempts to Hire Effective Teachers
Using resumes to screen and identify effective teachers is useless and a waste of time. I know what you are thinking. “In the last article Chett attacked the use of job interviews to identify effective teachers and in this post he is attacking teacher resumes! Is there nothing sacred that remains in the search for effective teachers?” I know. The last two articles I've written have bordered … [Read more...]
Are Good Teacher Interview Questions Resulting in the Selection of Effective Teachers?
It is still the season for hiring teachers, so I am going to keep preaching the gospel of effective teacher selection practices. What is today’s sermon? What makes good interview questions for teachers. Maybe a better question would be, is the time you spend searching for the ‘right’ interview questions and the countless hours interviewing teachers each school year even worth it? Unstructured … [Read more...]
Teacher Interview Questions: Are There Dumb Ones Out There?
I am working on an upcoming article for teacher interviews and selection methods and I need your help. It is almost that time of year! Aspiring teachers across the country will sit before principals and/or interview panels and be asked questions during their teacher interviews. We are working on a future article to help school leaders in this area, but we need some group feedback for one … [Read more...]
