When new teachers and staff join a school district, seldom are principals wondering, "How do I retain teachers that I've just hired?" However, when new teachers begin it’s a time of hope and uncertainty. Numerous task, job role, culture, and social demand questions loom in the back of new teachers’ minds in the first several months with any new school district. Teachers are also uncertain about … [Read more...]
Do Applicants to a School District Deserve a Realistic Job Preview?
How should principals in challenging schools present their school to applying teachers. Should they make applicant teachers aware of the challenge that awaits them at the risk of losing a promising applicant or surprise them once they have them under contract? What about administrators and school district leaders? If the past superintendent destroyed the trust of the community and created a … [Read more...]
Onboarding New Members to the District: If Fast Food Restaurants See the Importance, Shouldn’t School Districts?
Each year school districts comb through applicants to find candidates who have the most potential (hopefully using effective selection tools for teachers) and the next step in bringing them on board through orientation and socialization techniques that support your broader school district goals. The process of selection, orientation and socialization is often referred to as onboarding. School … [Read more...]
Are You Hiring Teachers who will Do Well in a Team Environment?
How important are team behaviors in your school? Do you assess your applicants' abilities to work with a team in your teacher interview questions? The movement towards team-based work began to catch on about two decades ago in the corporate world. Companies realized the benefit of creating teams to manage projects and selected members of the team and new employees for the company based on what … [Read more...]
How to Write Job Postings for Teachers
"Help wanted: Classroom Teacher." This hardly qualifies as a job posting within a school district. Surprisingly, many job openings fail to reveal critical information that applicants need to determine if they are qualified and interested in open teaching positions. When trying to determine how to write job postings for teachers, you may consider the following tips. My Postings for Teachers … [Read more...]
Best Practices for Hiring and Recruiting Effective Teachers
I grew up in the country so a fishing analogy in reference to hiring and recruiting the best teachers for your school district seems fitting. When school districts need to fill open positions of teachers and administrators they often use one method, job postings. A job posting for a teaching position is one way to broadcast positions within the school district, but that doesn't make it the … [Read more...]