NEWS FOR AND ABOUT MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATORS

FEBRUARY - APRIL 2016

PERSPECTIVE

In this Issue:• Beginning Teachers Thrive• Match Your Rookies with the Right

Veterans• On the Right Track

• What Makes a Great Teacher “Great”?• Flagstaff United Opens the Door to All

Employee Feedback• And More!

Welcome to AASPA,

On behalf of AASPA, I wish each of you a Happy New Year and hope that 2016 is off to a greatstart. The new year is always full of promise and optimism, which can be seen in the activities of your national association.

AASPA has been working diligently over the past few months preparing for an exciting year in 2016. We are most proud of the work we have done in developing new professional development as well as new opportunities for members. In December, we conducted our first Human Capital Leadership Summit in Monterey, CA. This was an opportunity for K12 HR administrators to take their professional development to

the next level with strategic leadership sessions. We celebrated another successful Boot Camp in Austin, TX, January 21-22. Topics covered were FLSA, Employee Discipline, Social Media, Employee Handbooks, FMLA and Hiring for Diversity just to name a few. These in person learning opportunities along with our webinar program enable you to stay on the cutting edge of your professional development and growth.

In addition, the AASPA Legislative and Governmental Committee has been busy keeping members informed on Legislative changes at the national level. If you missed the recent Legislative Briefs, which was sent out in January on the topic of ESSA, I encourage you to take a look at it under the Members Only side of the website.

Plans are already underway for the 78th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida on October 11-14, 2016. Please watch your e-mail for opportunities to present, volunteer and get involved. Registration for this event will be available in April.

The AASPA Board is also seeking nominations for the following positions: President-Elect, Recording Secretary and Region 3 and 4 Representatives. If you are interested in serving or in nominating another member please check out the website for more information at www.aaspa.org.I invite you to become an actively engaged member of AASPA by sharing your knowledge and expertise with your AASPA friends and colleagues.

Best wishes for a prosperous new year!

Larry ReznicekLarry ReznicekAASPA President

2015-2016EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS

PRESIDENTLarry Reznicek

Gillette, WY

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENTDr. Richard Valenta

Denton, TX

PRESIDENT-ELECTRick Arnett

Lake Orion, MI

RECORDING SECRETARYDr. Cathy Donovan

Olathe, KS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORKelly Coash-Johnson

Overland Park, KS

REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVESREGION 1

Robyn Bean Hillsboro, OR

REGION 2Dr. Beth Dalton

Buffalo Grove, IL

REGION 3Dr. Justin SchooleyMartinsburg, WV

REGION 4Joe Strickland

Clovis, NM

REGION 5Jason LiewehrCarrollton, TX

REGION 6Dr. Connie Graham

Camden, SC

President’s Corner ....................................................... 3Flagstaff United Opens the Door to All Employee Feedback ..................................................................... 4Principal Mentoring ..................................................... 6Beginning Teachers Thrive ........................................... 8Conference Save the Date ......................................... 10Match Your Rookies with the Right Veterans ............ 11What Makes a Great Teacher “Great”? ..................... 12Leading Success ......................................................... 14On the Right Track ..................................................... 18Acquiring Top Talent by Creating a Positive Hiring Experience ................................................................. 21

From the Desk of Larry Reznicek, AASPA President

President’s CornerPERSPECTIVE

American Association ofSchool Personnel Administrators11863 W. 112th Street, Suite 100

Overland Park, KS 66210Phone: (913) 327-1222

Fax: (913) 327-1223www.aaspa.org

Cover and Layout DesignMolly Hildreth

In t

his

Per

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tive

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PERSPECTIVE is published by the American Association

of School Personnel Administrators for the purpose of exchanging

information of mutual interest and benefit to its members.

The cost of the subscription is included

in the AASPA membership dues.

ContributorsIsabel Carter

Anthony W. Contente-CuomoBessie CriscioneDonna Fontenot

Carolyn FordAlice Ledford

Michael MoodySandra MooreDietrich Sauer

Nancy Sharpe StrawbridgeSara SkrettaEmily TatumChris Wolk

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Flagstaff Unified Opens the Door

to All Employee Feedback

One of the most difficult challenges faced by school districts is how to create a system for employee engagement and feedback that is consistent, inclusive and gets results. Most often, a very small group of employees are involved in designing and executing changes and/or improvements in working conditions or compensation. In addition, different employee groups often find themselves competing or acting as separate entities in such discussions. The Flagstaff Unified School District took the initiative for the 2015-2016 school year to create a completely new and innovative Meet and Confer employee representation system open to all employee participation-regardless of position, outside affiliation, or status. The new system, referred to as “The Voice of FUSD,” is based upon a core, democratic platform under which all employee representatives are voted upon directly by the employees those representatives seek to represent.

Each school location elects one certified and one classified staff member to the this level of employee representation referred to as the “Voice Committee” annually. The employee elected representatives on the Voice Committee meet monthly, (starting in October through May of each school year) with the human resources director managing and chairing the process. The Voice Committee representatives are responsible for gathering feedback from their locations, sharing it during the Voice Committee meetings and providing feedback to their constituents upon return.

There is just one simple requirement for eligibility to serve on the Voice Committee-current, full-time employment with the district. This represents the first

time any FUSD employee who chooses to step forward and lend their voice to the employee representation process has the opportunity to do so. Factors such as age, ethnicity, education, experience, longevity, skill set and external affiliation are not relevant to the system nor do they affect eligibility to participate in any way. This focus upon equal opportunity and non-discrimination makes the Voice Committee far more inclusive than previous approaches and supports a process that is as fair and diverse as possible. Additionally, the elective process ensures that the Voice Committee representatives remain in tune with the issues, wishes, and needs relevant to the employees they serve. Communication and transparency are critical to the success of the Voice Committee system. To ensure this success, the notes from every monthly Voice Committee meeting are posted on the Human Resources web page for all employees to view. In addition, an action log is posted, which provides information relating to a summary of the actions taken, next steps and ownership of each submitted item. This action log provides the employees with a method of tracking the progress for each item submitted to the Voice Committee as well as who is accountable for the item’s progress.

Another new aspect of the revised Meet and Confer system is that now any employee can submit a comment form for consideration by the Voice Committee. This provides an avenue for employees to present their concerns for consideration by both the Voice Committee (as employee representatives)

and ultimately the school district’s administration. These comment forms are distributed, collected and presented by the submitting employees’ Voice Committee representative and are included in the next available Voice Committee meeting’s group discussion. In addition to the action log referenced above, the outcome of discussion of the employee’s concern is filled in to the form and returned to the employee to provide a direct response and confirm that their voice was heard.

In practice, the process dramatically increased and diversified FUSD employee participation in the employee representation process. The district’s previous process had but three certified staff members, one (maybe two) classified staff members and one licensed professional. In contrast, the Voice Committee process incorporates seats for up to 18 classified staff members, 17 certified staff members and one licensed professional.

Given the increased input from a more diverse cross sections of employees, the Voice Committee agendas and participants are held to strict time limitations to ensure that the group considers all perspectives. The information and issues presented by each class

of employee are treated as equally valuable and important. In addition to the presentation of issues and information, each site’s Voice Committee is required to share positive stories and successes first as ultimately, the entire district is working toward the success of its students and staff. Starting each discussion on such a high note helps to safeguard that focus on improving conditions for employees and the education offered to the students is never lost. It also helps the meetings remain positive and constructive.

The FUSD, with full support and great interest from the Governing Board, endeavored to revise its Meet and Confer process to give a voice to a much broader spectrum of employees. The Voice Committee process serves that purpose by allowing all to be heard and by reminding each different category of employee that the school district is a system in which the actions of one affect the lives and working conditions of others. Ultimately, the hope is that the process will provide a more organic employee representation process for all employees and that the actions taken as a result of that process benefit the entire spectrum of employee working experiences.

Mr. Sauer is the Director of Human Resources for the Flagstaff Unified School District in Northern Arizona. When he joined the district nearly 5 years ago, he arrived with more than 15 years of North American HR experience in Fortune 500 organizations such as Deluxe Corporation and Deckers Brands. His core values of HR include: diversity, employee relations, and branding the district as an employer of choice in the city and state. Dietrich enjoys taking photographs of the numerous national and state parks nearby the district.

Mr. Contente-Cuomo is an attorney with Udall Shumway PLC who specializes in education related law matters. He works with more than 60 school districts, joint technical education districts, and community colleges on issues

including, but not limited to, human resources, regulatory compliance, policy drafting, contracting, real estate, elections, and risk management. In his free time, Anthony enjoys listening to Portuguese Fado music.

BY Dietrich Sauer, Director of Human Resources, Flagstaff Unified School District & Anthony W. Contente-Cuomo, Partner, Udall Shumway PLC

4 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 5

PRINCIPAL MENTORING: HELPING OTHERS, WHILE HELPING OURSELVES

In the most recent edition of the Perspective magazine, November 2015, Dr. Tony Davis and Dr. Bess Scott discussed the importance of principal retention (Davis & Scott, 2015). Principal retention directly impacts the climate, culture and student achievement within a school. Over the past decade, the principal’s role has changed significantly. Today, the principal is now the instructional leader, building manager, public spokesperson, politician and all around utility person in a school. For even the most veteran principal, the job provides its challenges. For a first year principal the job can be overwhelming and lonely.

Principal preparation programs continue to increase the requirements placed on candidates, in some cases requiring a yearlong internship. When the time comes to assume the role of principal, no amount of preparation can prepare a person for what lies ahead. Whether one assumes the role after coming out of the classroom, department chair or as an assistant principal, the challenge is a challenging one. The constant demands, interruptions, requirements, pressure and stress can wear down even the most resilient person. In a Rand Corporation study of first year principals, researchers found that of the 519 new principals in the study, 107 left the profession within two years (Burkhauser, Gates, Hamilton, & Schuyler Ikemoto, 2012).

To help support new principals, many states have incorporated or brought back formal new principal mentoring programs, partially in response to Race to the Top. The National Association of Elementary Principals (NAESP) also offers a principal mentoring program to encourage veteran administrators to assist those new to the profession. The training process for becoming a mentor can be a rigorous one, for example the NAESP Principal Mentoring program requires a two and a half day training, a nine month internship and monthly cohort chats and reflections.

A true mentoring experience differs from the informal supervisor/subordinate model that many districts have put into place. Most of the time, being a mentor is a fulfilling experience, but can also be extremely difficult. Here are a few tips that will help your experience as a mentor and mentee.

HOLD MEETING TIMES SACRED

• Principals are busy. Meetings and emergencies pop up unexpectedly, but hold your time together as a non-negotiable. This is a time for you to work with an individual who is trying to improve themselves personally and professionally. All relationships are built on trust. Knowing that you are willing to set aside time for each other is the foundation to that trust. Regularly scheduled meetings are a good way to start. Pick a day of the week and time that works for each of your schedules, and do it before school starts. Mark it in your calendar as a busy time to ensure holding that time for each other.

DO SITE VISITS

• Vary where you have your meetings. This will allow you to see each other’s buildings, which can help to generate conversation. Off site meetings will allow you privacy and ensure that neither of you will be

distracted nor interrupted. If you are always meeting at the same building it may become a repetitive conversation that may revolve around similar topics. Going to different buildings allows each of you to highlight and share ideas of what new and innovative things you are implementing within your building.

BE OPEN TO REFLECTIVE CONVERSATIONS

• Reflective conversations allow us an insight into our practice. Being honest with ourselves and discussing our practice offers a chance to discover more about ourselves. Using open-ended questions helps to facilitate reflective conversations, which can help organize our thoughts about our past practice and formulate a plan to improve moving forward.

VIEW IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MUTUAL GROWTH

• Mentoring is about more than helping a fellow administrator. Mentoring allows you to learn more about yourself and improve your own leadership practices. Through discussion, questioning and reflection you may improve your communication skills and learn more about yourself and your leadership abilities.

DEVELOP AND EXPAND YOUR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK (PLN)

• Mentoring courses through a state or national organization will put you in contact with other veteran administrators and allow you to share your experiences. Utilizing social media to keep in contact with your colleagues will open a new world of resources. Keeping in contact with one member of your mentoring cohort on a platform, such as Twitter, may expose you to thousands of fellow administrators from around the world. Sharing this experience with a new principal will then open their world of resources exponentially.

Education Human Resource departments across the country are working to retain highly qualified and effective principals. Mentoring is a resource that districts and states can use to assist new principals as they transition into their new role. Working with a new principal helps the development of their skills and allows them to connect with other professionals in a non-evaluative way.

Chris Wolk is the Principal at Avon Center School, a K-4 school in Round Lake Beach, IL. He is a Regional Director for the Illinois Principal Association and a certified NAESP Principal Mentor. His interest in human resources has come with his participation in the development of the new evaluation and student growth requirements for his district. He has served as a teacher, department chair, assistant principal and principal and holds a M.S. in Teacher Pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

BY Chris Wolk, Principal, Avon Center School

6 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 7

BEGINNING TEACHERS THRIVEHow Alachua County Public Schools created efficiencies to better support beginning teacher retention

Background

Consistently rated a high-performing district by the Florida Department of Education, Alachua County Public Schools is located in Gainesville and serves more than 28,000 students across the county. The district’s vision for their students is that they will graduate to excel in their chosen careers and be productive members of the global community. Alachua’s 38 schools employ more than 1,900 classroom teachers, with about 7 percent of them being first year teachers.

The district supports teachers as they strive to promote student achievement and effective classroom management. After recruiting and selecting new teachers, the district is responsible for orienting them to the district’s mission and helping them continue to develop and refine their professional skills. In the 2015-2016 school year, 123 brand-new teachers were each assigned to one of seven mentor coaches as a part of the district’s Beginning Teacher Program.

The Challenge

Now in its sixth year, Alachua’s

Beginning Teacher Program is well established. The program’s structure is based on a review of research on effective teacher induction, as well as a synthesis of the data collected on the program over previous years. Key elements of the program include assignment of a mentor coach, a full-day orientation, assignment of a support team, quarterly cohort trainings and opportunities to observe exemplary teaching practices.

As required by State legislation, a beginning teacher program must be in place at each district. What’s unique about Alachua’s program is that the mentors are dedicated to beginning teachers, rather than being school-based. The district found dedicated coaches are better able to provide differentiated coaching and have the flexibility to spend more time with certain teachers.

Beginning teachers need to be made aware of what good teaching looks like and how this aligns to school and district initiatives. “The Beginning Teacher Program helps first year teachers thrive, not only

survive,” said Bessie Criscione, Beginning Teacher Program Manager.

A common challenge with beginning teacher programs is ensuring the program doesn’t hinder, but rather enhances, their work. Often times with processes and procedures, comes added paperwork and the need for accountability.

Alachua is also connected to a university, which poses a challenge for many graduates who enter as beginning teachers and only stay in their role temporarily. A central role of the district’s mentors is to collect data on why teachers are leaving. For instance, are they unhappy in their profession or moving on for personal reasons? This data is important for identifying possible courses of action that will impact the beginning teacher retention rate.

The Solution

These challenges spurred Alachua to partner with Truenorthlogic to enhance their established Beginning Teacher Program, create efficiencies and shed more light on program management.

As the only first year teacher at her school, Allison Crowson was visited by her mentor once a week. “It helped me realize that I’m not alone.” Allison’s mentor spent time with the new teacher during actual classroom instruction, allowing her to offer timely and relevant feedback and ideas from her extensive teaching experience.

Throughout the program, the mentor keeps a checklist of progress made, action items and accomplished milestones. Previously, this paper checklist was stored in binders at the district central office. Now, the checklist can be easily uploaded as an artifact to the beginning teacher’s performance evaluation. After the principal provides verification, the central office can quickly and easily monitor progress and completion without searching through binders of paper.

Beginning teacher mentors are funded through different title programs, and as such, the district is required to provide specific data in order to receive title funding. Previously, mentor calendars were printed and attempts were made to manually decipher completed mentor activities. Now, the central office has clearer visibility of mentor log activities with the ability to pull reports for title funding. They’re also able to use

this data to help look for patterns and opportunities to further refine the program. Additionally, the access to data helps mentors prepare for coaching and next steps with their new teachers. Insightful reports on each teacher allow mentors to see a complete picture of the teacher’s growth.

“Truenorthlogic’s solution gives us visibility and easy access to beginning teacher and mentor data enabling us to make informed decisions to support our overall retention goal,” said Isabel Carter, Director of Professional Development.

Conclusion

Mentors set the expectation with beginning teachers that they will continually grow throughout their career. “One of the most important aspects of my job is establishing a mindset of ongoing professional growth,” said Dagni Christian, now in her fifth year as a mentor, previously a teacher leader and teacher for 23 years.

Automation enhancements to an already established program make a big difference helping the central office, mentors and new teachers. Through time savings and increased visibility, the focus is back on the importance of providing quality classroom instruction, and ultimately helping the district achieve their goal of a 95 percent beginning teacher retention rate.

BY Bessie Criscione, Supervisor of Professional Development and Isabel Carter, Director of Professional Development, Alachua County Public Schools

Bessie Criscione has served as a secondary teacher and instructional coach, a professional development facilitator, and instructional consultant for Learning-Focused, Inc. She currently serves in the capacity of Supervisor of Professional Development for Alachua County Public Schools in Gainesville, Florida. She received her masters of educational leadership from the American College of Education in 2013.

Isabel Carter has served as a secondary teacher, an ELA curriculum specialist, a professional development facilitator, and is currently the Director of Professional Development for Alachua County Public Schools in Gainesville, Florida. She received her masters of educational leadership from Saint Leo University in 2014.

8 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 9

Beginning teachers need to be made aware of what good teaching looks like and how this aligns to school and district initiatives.

“ “

Prepare, Support, and Retain Effective Educators

www.truenorthlogic.com 877-204-2664

• Automate certified and classified staff performance evaluations

• Manage all professional learning content across the district

• Align professional development to evaluation results

An Integrated Solution for Personalized Professional Growth

SAVE THE DATE!

AASPA 78th

Annual Conference

October 11-14, 2016

www.aaspaconference.comAmerican Association of School Personnel Administrators

When was the last time you walked into a classroom and realized the amazing teacher, with total class engagement, was a rookie?

My first thought is “who mentored that teacher? I want to thank them for their commitment.” Veteran teachers set the stage for all who follow. If they don’t believe in the school’s vision, they can become toxic to your team; however, if they are vibrant and enthusiastic about their work, rookie teachers will follow suit every time.

The best leaders harness the power of losing rookie teachers year after year. There are plenty of directions we could take that commitment: offering a multitude of staff developments, designing the best curriculum, ensuring superior technology and resources are available, even designing the most modern of classrooms with trendy furniture. But there is no doubt that our novice teachers need more than this.

There is simply no substitute for pairing a rookie teacher up with a rock-star veteran. Student engagement, positive relationships and peer-to-peer interactions, the hallmarks of effective schools, are nearly impossible if new teachers are left on their own, despite the strength of curriculum or professional development. No one ever said teaching would be easy;

yet, a rock star veteran can certainly make it look that way.

It is the leader’s job to pair their best veteran teachers with their rookie to insure the entire team is consistently growing. Some strategies to include are: providing a mentoring calendar with set dates and times to meet, using a needs assessments at the beginning and middle of the year and utilizing goal setting and reflection forms. The challenge, of course, is if the leader does not actively participate in the mentoring model, the commitment of the veteran teacher may fade over time. Mentoring takes time, and teachers simply don’t have any to spare. Administrators’ actions have an incredible effect on what happens in the classroom, and it’s everyone’s responsibility to help our rookies be successful.

An abundance of paperwork, challenging student behaviors, poor school culture and long work days often overpower the excitement of the rookies. When this happens, innovation dies and the rookies soon lose their passion for teaching. We can prevent this from happening with the perfect match and support.

The greatest challenge isn’t finding great teachers It’s keeping them!

BY Sandra Moore, Executive Director, Richardson Independent School District

Sandra is an Executive Director in Richardson Independent School District. In her current role she leads the new teacher mentor program, development, recruitment, and the Retention Task Force. Sandra’s work stems from 18 years in education as a teacher, specialist, curriculum writer, administrator, and staff developer. In her staff development sessions, Sandra emphasizes an empirical approach to effective classroom management and working with students from poverty. She thrives on getting teachers engaged in their daily work and has a true passion for helping new teachers grow. Sandra is currently pursuing her Doctorate Educational Leadership at Dallas Baptist University, has a master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from University of North Texas, and a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from University of North Texas.

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With the

Match your

ROOKIES

Right VETERANS

lesson plans, grading assignments, meeting students outside of class, talking to parents, attending school meetings, and serving the school community, great teachers are willing to put in additional time. Teachers who stay after hours to provide additional help to that student struggling in math could make the world of a difference in the student’s ability to move forward in math classes and the student’s academic confidence as a whole. To identify the potential of a great teacher, screen candidates for their passion towards teaching to reveal their dedication to the success of their students and their ambition to work hard outside of classroom hours. Ask candidates to describe a time they went above and beyond in their teaching role to better either their students or academic community as a whole.

Believe in the Students

At the end of the day, many scholars believe that the most prominent element among good teachers is that they believe in their students. Ellie Herman, writer and teacher, spent a year visiting classrooms with the intent to discover what is at the heart of great teaching. “Teaching is both a science and an art that varies from school to school and from every human being,” Ellie noted, “the one thing that does not change is that

great teachers love their students and their work.” She found that students who were most successful in the classroom were a product of teachers who catered to the learning of each student and continuously praised students for their participation and accomplishments. Look for candidates who can see the potential in students and encourage their academic growth.

Conclusion

Regardless of economic conditions, budget cuts, curriculum requirements or any other factor that impacts the education system, the need for great teachers is universal and timeless. District recruiters will always be screening for great teachers to fill their schools and need to have the right interviewing tools to screen candidates effectively. Whether recruitment teams are utilizing interviewing platforms, behavioral assessments or any other resource to help them identify great teachers, it’s in the power of district recruitment teams to fill their schools with great teachers that the students deserve. Great schools come from great teachers, which starts in the recruitment department.

BY Emily Tatum, Marketing Associate, RIVS Digital Interviews

Emily is the Marketing Associate at RIVS Digital Interviews where she helps districts build the best teams through video, voice, and written interviews.

12 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 13

What Makes A Great Teacher “Great”?I’ve never met someone who couldn’t reminisce on a favorite teacher. Whether it’s shaping interests, aiding learning styles, or cultivating a friendship, great teachers are the most important factor to student success and are districts’ MVPs. Screening candidates for their foreseen greatness is a superpower all district recruiters probably want, so let’s take it a step back and discuss what students, district professionals and researchers think makes a great teacher a ‘great’ to help you identify your next superstar teacher.

4 Qualities of a Great Teacher:

Subject Knowledge

The core of a teacher’s work is to adequately educate students on the subject that they are teaching. The profound knowledge base on the subject matter is a strong indicator on their ability to teach children and is born out of years of studying, an innate interest in the subject matter and the desire to keep up to date on matters in the subject field. The Sutton Trust study on teacher effectiveness concludes that teachers who have a strong knowledge of the subject they teach, have the ability to understand the way students think about the content and identify where students are having issues processing the material. Through this ability, teachers are able to adapt their teaching style to ensure student success. While candidates have to pass certain courses in order to teach their particular subject, look for candidates who have a deep knowledge of their

subject through past experience teaching or studying the subject beyond their required courses. Does the geography candidate enjoy traveling? Can the math candidate make math fun for students?

Clear Objectives

Student Renea Williams from Youth Communication’s video What Makes a Great Teacher? said, “Great teachers write out objectives and also grading policies, so that students have a clear idea of what they will be learning and what’s expected of them.” Effective teachers with clear objectives provide students, parents and administrators a detailed overview of the curriculum, educational goals and how those goals will be measured throughout the year. Objectives help keep teachers and students on track and working together to meet the same academic goal. Screen candidates for their experience setting goals based on their past teaching experience to provide insight into their ability to make every assignment purposeful so that students have the greatest chance for learning the most that they can.

Passion

American teachers lead the world in instructional time with typical classroom hours of approximately 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., but the time a great teacher allocates to the success of their students extends well beyond the standard classroom hours. Between preparing

Nominate your colleagues, districts and affiliates for international recognition through AASPA! Winners will be announced at the 78th Annual Conference in Orlando, FL in October 2016. For a complete list of Awards go to http://aaspa.org/awardsrecognitions/

Leaders play a critical role in any organization and school leaders have the awesome responsibility of setting the tone for the educational experience for children. Gallup found that 69 percent of teachers are not engaged or are actively disengaged with their work (Gallup, 2015). As HR professionals, hiring school leaders who are dedicated to the engagement of teachers and staff is essential in delivering high quality education.

Engaged employees have a commitment to their organization and goals and when employees are ENGAGED, they exert discretionary or optimal effort (Kruse, 2015). Optimal effort sets great leaders, great teachers, and great schools apart from the rest. Every child deserves an experience where optimal effort is the norm.

Studies show that performance management is enhanced in highly engaged organizations, but engagement must be integrated into the culture of how things are done in a building/district. There is an extremely strong correlation between the loyalty, productivity, low turnover, decreased absenteeism and the level of engagement of employees (Gallup, 2013). The value of engagement is that schools will have an engaged workforce, and a highly engaged workforce has increased innovations, productivity and performance – something every child deserves.

It is important to understand that there is a psychology in the art of success. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic,

resilient and productive. In other words, happiness fuels success (Achor, 2010). So how does a leader make his/her teachers happy? Start by getting started! There are several discrete steps to fostering a culture of engagement through employee recognition.

The first step is to commit to engaging employees through formal and informal recognition, embedding the expectation in the overall performance management philosophy and understanding the need to “feel the love!” By “feel the love,” I simply mean it is intuitively evident that when an employee is trusted and empowered at work, she/he feels good and will work harder!

So how does a leader formally begin the process of identifying the level of engagement of teachers and staff? The first step is to survey the level of engagement in your building. There are companies who can deliver an engagement survey to faculty and staff or an assessment can be developed in-house. These instruments are typically calibrated against a norming group or scored on a rubric. A variety of low-cost and no-cost options exist, including the teacher stakeholder survey used by AdvancED as a part of many schools’ accreditation process. Once the results are received, the engagement process can begin by sharing the results with everyone in the building. It is important for transparency to occur – remember, everyone should be committed to the mission and feel appreciated for their efforts. For some this will come almost immediately, but for others, it will be a difficult concept to accept.

One facet of engaging employees can be assembling focus groups of teachers and staff to discuss survey results in more detail. As a leader you must complement the building efforts with those of your own. For example, encourage employees to speak up and make it comfortable. Promote and practice candor. You can help your employees get to know each other and reconnect-create a happy hour at school with ice cream sundaes. Depending upon your budget, recruit your PTA group as a partner for both manpower and the budget!

Employee engagement and recognition work hand-in-hand and have been proven to improve job performance that leads to the optional effort! Nearly half a century ago, Drucker asserted that “What gets measured gets done.” In the realm of engagement, we could extend upon this truism by noting that happy people are more productive and behaviors and performance that are recognized will be repeated. Recognition is effective when it is linked to performance objectives and core values and is especially successful when it is timely, specific and meaningful. Achor, in his book “Before Happiness,” found that one instance of praise given daily can increase productivity by 30 percent.

Communication is key to successful recognition and subsequent engagement. The right words can boost morale and galvanize team purpose. Leaders must be adept at reading non-verbal communication, as this is equally as important as verbal communication when it comes to engagement and recognition. Effective communication builds trust and positively impacts the work environment – trust is key.

Catch ‘em in the act: Catch people doing things right and express appreciation in the moment. Recognition can be swift – it doesn’t have to be time consuming. Randomly picking a day to thank a teacher who never misses playground duty will pay dividends.

Be specific: Be clear on what act or behavior you want to recognize. While it might feel good when your supervisor says “You’re doing a good job,” an employee will feel amazing if the supervisor says “your data analysis on the school improvement report was outstanding!”

Focus on Positive: Stay focused on the appreciation - emphasize why their act, whether large or small, is a big deal. Don’t negate the positive by mixing in suggestions. Telling the security guard that his diligence at front door security is outstanding is great. Adding that you wish he would move the table closer to the office and smile more negates the recognition and any future attempts.

Personalize!: All recognition must be personalized to the individual, the act and the situation. Not everyone enjoys large public displays of recognition and not every outstanding performance deserves such a display. Knowing someone’s name (or not!) can make or break your credibility when it comes to recognition.

Keep it real: Be sincere and stay true to your style. Don’t become an enthusiastic cheerleader if your style is quiet and reserved.

Mix it up: Keep things interesting for everyone by mixing it up. Throw in a unique recognition to keep things exciting. For example, at a random faculty meeting, present the spirit award (a pompom perhaps?) to a teacher who attends a lot of student events.

How you recognize and engage will be driven by you as a leader – are you dedicated and all in? If so, no building can resist, and the effort will result in an amazing experience for your students! While the list may seem endless in terms of the strategies that can be employed to engage employees and recognize their efforts, the effective leader can purposefully select those strategies, which make the most sense in your setting. The leader is critical to establishing an engaged environment that translates into teachers and staff who give optimal effort!

BY Sara E. Skretta, Ed.D., PHR Director of Professional Experiences, College of Education & Human Sciences

14 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 15

Leading Success: A Culture of Engagement

Sara Skretta, Ed.D., PHR, is the Director of Professional Experiences at the College of Education & Human Sciences at UNL. She began her 14 year professional career in public schools as a high school English teacher and coach. Skretta then served as an assistant principal in two Omaha-area school districts before joining Lincoln Public Schools in that same role. Prior to coming to UNL, Skretta served as the Director of Human Resources for the University of Nebraska Foundation before joining Bryan Health System as their HR Partner for Employee Relations. Skretta has presented at the local, state and national level, served on state and national committees and was a contributing author to the 2004 NASSP publication regarding 21st century high schools, Breaking Ranks II. Skretta, married to a school superintendent, spends her free time proudly cheering for their four boys in the classroom and on the field!

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2016 Best Practices Topic - AASPA is now accepting articles for the 2016 Best Practices magazine. The annual publication features articles from members on strategies or programs on a particular topic. AASPA’s Professional Development Committee has chosen, “FLSA” as the theme for the 2016 issue. Possible topic ideas could include:• How it impacts different classes of employees• What are the changes in regulations?• Conducting audit to identify who is impacted by the change• Response to audit -- increase wages to threshold or re-examine job duties and reclassify?• Help employees with the right conversation• Relationship to overall compensation plan

If you are interested in sharing your experiences with AASPA members across the world, please consider submitting an article. Articles should be emailed to molly@aaspa.org at the AASPA national office by Friday, April 15, 2016. For more information or a copy of the submission guidelines, please email molly@aaspa.org.

On the Right Track:

Supporting New Teachers

Teachers sitting cross-legged on tables energetically involved in a game to foster communication and small groups of new teachers deeply engaged in conversations to get to know their principals are just some of the activities occurring each month in the Walton County School District’s Teacher Induction Program. Located in Monroe, Georgia, mid-way between Atlanta and Athens, the district is making headway in retaining new and nearly new teachers, during a time when educators across the country are inundated with information about less experienced teachers leaving the profession. The 2015-2016 school year began with unprecedented support for new teachers including a three day orientation, the assignment of carefully selected mentors for each new teacher, an ongoing Induction Program, and an individualized Induction Plan developed by each new teacher, his/her principal, and a professional learning coach.

In 2015, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission reported that 44 percent of the state’s public school teachers leave within the first five years of employment (Owens, 2015). Furthermore, Richard Ingersoll, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, reports that over the next five years nearly half of the new teachers across the country will transfer to new schools or leave the profession all together (Phillips, 2015). In our district, 28 percent of the teachers who left the district in the past five years had less than five years of experience in the classroom. Of those who left, 53 percent left for personal reasons or gave no reason for leaving, 24 percent left to teach in another Georgia school, 13 percent left due to reduction in force and 10 percent were non-renewed.

Our district’s “well-oiled machine” of teacher support begins anew each spring with hiring for the coming year. Using carefully selected criteria, principals assign a mentor to new teachers soon after they are officially hired. These criteria for mentors include exemplary performance as a classroom teacher and as a professional role model, the commitment to multi-year mentoring, demonstrated knowledge of beginning teacher development and a commitment to fostering a school culture that promotes continuous learning. Mentors, who are

compensated for their time, participate in ongoing training with the district’s professional learning coaches and school-based teacher leaders throughout the school year. Mentor training is designed to be both comprehensive and targets areas of need for most new teachers, such as classroom management and communicating with parents. The mentor training can be individualized as well, focusing on specific needs that may arise in unique situations. Mentors track their work with new teachers through a log of activities completed.

At the heart of the district’s induction efforts, new teachers have individual induction plans and programming based on their feedback. During the first semester, each new teacher meets with his/her principal and professional learning coach to craft an induction plan that will address any areas of need as well as set future goals for the new teachers. Sources of data used to inform the plans include teacher licensure assessment data, information based on classroom observations and anecdotal information from teacher self-reflections. Specific components required for certification are also included.

New teachers have monthly induction meetings where they can discuss teaching with their peers. These sessions, led by the district’s professional learning coaches, cover topics of concern for beginning teachers including lesson planning, classroom management, instructional strategies, assessment and communication. New teachers report that these sessions are beneficial, offer the opportunities to discuss pertinent and timely issues, and help them to gain confidence in the classroom. In the words of an induction teacher, “Sometimes I doubt that what I am doing is effective, but it’s good to be reminded that I am on the right track.”

Embedded in the ongoing training for mentor teachers and induction teachers are opportunities for reflection with formal and informal recognition for accomplishments in the classroom. All induction teachers are invited to a celebratory breakfast at the end of their first year, and principals have the opportunity to recognize outstanding new teachers each spring. While the numbers are not available, anecdotal evidence shows that this year’s new teachers have enjoyed and are immensely appreciative for the support that has been available to them. We anticipate that this ongoing support will translate into a decreasing rate of turnover for our less experienced teachers in the future.

BY Carolyn Ford, Ed.D., Professional Learning Coach; K. Michael Moody, Ed.D., Professional Learning Coach; & Nancy Sharpe Strawbridge, Ed.D., Director of Title IIA Programs; Walton County School District

18 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 19

Nominations are open for the 2016-2017 AASPA Executive Board Offices. Positions open include: President-Elect, Secretary, Region 3 Representative and Region 4 Representative. For more information on positions, criteria, timeline and to complete the application go to http://aaspa.org/about-us/aaspa-governance/

Acquiring Top Talent by Creating a Positive Hiring Experience

As human resources professionals in the field of education, nothing is more important than hiring top talent to serve our students. School districts everywhere compete for this top talent. What differentiates one school district from another when attracting top talent is the type of hiring experience candidates receive with the district when pursuing these positions. Does the candidate feel valued through the hiring process? Are they aware of their status throughout the process? Are the lines of communication open? If the answers to these questions is no, the candidates will likely choose to accept employment elsewhere. So, how do districts ensure candidates have a positive experience?

Organizational ContextFort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) is the seventh largest district in Texas with a student enrollment of more than 74,000 students and 9,000 full time employees. In 2013, a new superintendent took the helm. A short time after taking office, he and the FBISD Board of Trustees developed a new mission for the district: FBISD exists to inspire and equip all students to pursue futures beyond what they can imagine. In addition, a new vision, leadership competencies, core beliefs and commitments, and district goals and priorities were adopted. By creating these foundational anchors to which all district leaders align, the components were in place for positive organizational change.

Aligned with these foundational anchors, the new

chief human resources officer guided the HR division in strategic actions designed to create a positive FBISD experience for current and future employees. This CHRO brings with him extensive business experience outside of the field of education which has assisted in the transformation of the Fort Bend ISD Experience. His vision for human resources has resulted in a number of positive changes from the restructuring of the departments within the division, to process improvement efforts across the division.

The first in a series of improvement opportunities was the hiring process. The lag timeline from a recommendation to hire to an official job offer caused the district to lose top talent to surrounding districts. Identifying the time that it takes to hire candidates as an opportunity for improvement, FBISD engaged in a structured hiring improvement process designed to shorten the time from recommendation for hire to an official job offer.

Process Improvement TeamIn order to tackle this structured hiring improvement process, the CHRO identified a cross-functional team of 10 representing the departments of talent acquisition, information technology, talent management, total rewards and talent operations. The hiring process improvement team worked collaboratively with an outside consulting firm to navigate this important work.

Three key leadership roles were identified: process champion, process owner and process team lead. The

BY Dr. Alice T. Ledford, Sr. Consultant, Talent Management & Donna Fontenot, Director of Talent Acquisition, Fort Bend Independent School District

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelo

www.aaspa.org 21

Did you know as an AASPA member you have access to all of our recorded webinars 24/7?

Simply log into the “Members Only” side of AASPA.org and click on ‘AASPA Webinars’ on the left-hand side. You can download both the webinar materials and the recording. View webinars like these today:• 10 Legal Issues Principals Should be Prepared to Address During the 2015-2016 School

Year• Employer Branding – Develop Your School District Brand• Gen Now: Understanding the Multi-Gen Workforce & the Coming Leadership Deficiency• The Hunt for Diversity: Character, Color and Certification• School Staff Wellness: How Do You Do It?• Networking is Recruiting: LinkedIn

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Carolyn Ford, Ed.D., serves as Professional Learning Coach with the Walton County School District. She has taught preschool, elementary and middle school, and college undergraduate and graduate classes for nearly 40 years, Dr. Ford has also been an assistant principal and principal in elementary schools. She is a graduate of Georgia State University and the University of Georgia.

K. Michael Moody, Ed.D., Professional Learning Coach with the Walton County School District, served as a middle school and high school principal for 25 years. Dr. Moody brings 46 years of experience to his work with teachers and students. He is a graduate of Georgia State University and the University of Georgia.

Nancy Sharpe Strawbridge, Ed.D., Director of Title IIA Programs, joined the Walton County School District in 1999 and served as an elementary school principal for 12 years. She brings 30 years of experience to her work with teachers and students. She is a graduate of Temple University and Vanderbilt University.

soon as possible and before the district invested time in completing background checks for individuals who may not accept the position due to the salary. Training and job aids were developed. Scripts for several points of contact during the process were crafted, and a competency-based interview guide was provided to hiring managers to ensure each candidate for positions had a similar hiring experience. Hiring managers were provided with training on these new processes prior to implementation.

Lessons LearnedThe hiring improvement process resulted in lessons worthy of sharing with others in the industry.

• The leadership of a strong superintendent and Board of Trustees in developing a mission and vision to which leaders in the organization align is essential.

• There is great value in tapping into cross-functional teams. This work would have been much more challenging with a homogeneous grouping of professionals. This team consisted of members who were intimately familiar with the existing process and members who were not at all familiar with that process, thus allowing for a fresh perspective.

• The voice-of-customer process is essential in order to inform process improvement actions and to create opportunities for buy-in to the improvement process.

• Defining a realistic scope is essential. Although it is tempting to want to fix everything, it is unrealistic to attempt to fix everything at once. Instead, it is important to identify the biggest pain point of the process and begin there, very systematically and strategically.

• The biggest lesson learned was that engaging in a structured process improvement is worth the investment of time in order to create a positive experience for candidates as we compete for top talent to serve the students of FBISD!

22 AASPA PERSPECTIVE www.aaspa.org 23

process champion is accountable for the work of the process team. The process team lead guides the team through the development of the improved process. The process owner is the team member responsible for ensuring the process is implemented. The CHRO served as the process champion. The director of talent acquisition served as the process owner, and the senior consultant in talent management served as the hiring process team lead. The team committed to weekly meetings from the beginning of the school year in October through the beginning of peak hiring season in June.

Doing the WorkImagine a professional development training room with the walls covered in poster sized, colorful post-it notes. This was the environment for completing the work of this process improvement.

Developing the Opportunity StatementThe first order of business was to create an opportunity statement. This process involved a lively discussion and resulted in the following hiring process redesign opportunity statement:

To provide consistency, timeliness and overall efficiency as we attract, hire and retain the best talent while providing quality customer service and communication with all stakeholders.

Voice-of-Customer Data Collection ProcessAs with any process improvement, one must first fully understand the voice of the customer. In this case, the customers were identified as the hiring managers across the district. This included campus principals, central office directors, executive directors, assistant superintendents, and executive assistants. A series of face-to-face meetings were conducted to gather information on the hiring process in FBISD from the hiring managers’ perspective. Each hiring manager and executive assistant was asked a series of questions to gather their perspective about what worked well with the current process, frustrating components, how long the process takes for various position types, as well as communication expectations and suggestions for improving the process. These groups provided excellent feedback on the hiring process that informed the nextactions of the hiring process team’s process improvement. In addition, they provided feedback

for unrelated improvements that could be addressed outside of the process improvement initiative. Through intentional efforts to address these additional concerns, the hiring managers developed confidence in the process.

Defining the Scope of the WorkFollowing the collection of voice-of-customer data, the team began the challenging task of the improvement process. The 10 members of the team initially wanted to improve the process from the very beginning (initiation of vacancy) until the very end (employee’s first day of work). It became quickly evident that this scope was unrealistic. In order to narrow the scope, the team focused on the voice of customer feedback. The biggest ‘pain point’ hiring managers experienced was losing candidates because it took too long for the candidates to receive their official offer. Therefore, the scope was narrowed to the time from receipt of the recommendation to hire form in the HR office to the official offer of employment. The process improvement goal statement was as follows: To improve staffing timelines for receipt of recommendation to offer of employment from a “10 - 21” day process to a “four - seven” day process.

Once the scope was defined, the next step was to identify the components of the process that needed to be completed and the order in which they should occur. If you are familiar with drafting flowcharts, you know that these can be tedious, but the final products are worth their weight in gold.

OutcomesThrough great efforts by the process improvement team, as well as the hiring manager, the goal was met. At last calculation, the time from receipt of the recommendation to hire to official offer was reduced from a 10 - 21 day process to 4.6 days. This improvement was well received by the hiring managers, executive leadership and the newly hired employees.

The key changes to the process included: moving salary calculation to the beginning of the process, developing a standardized process for hiring managers and making modifications to the current application tracking system. Salary calculation at the beginning of the process provided prospective employees with a quick first contact to engage them in the process as

Photo: Front Row Left to Right: Rebeca Bangstein, Donna Fontenot, Alice Ledford, Amanda Dokes, Rashaun Julks

Back Row Left to Right: Crystal Renteria, Jeanne Peltier, Susan Flessner, Mtizi Patin, Mary Pena

Dr. Alice T. Ledford has more than 20 year of experience in education. Her K-12 experience includes serving as a teacher, counselor, special education administrator and human resources administrator. Her higher education experience includes serving as director of residence life, chair

of department of education and dean of education. She currently serves as Senior Consultant of Talent Management in Fort Bend ISD.

Donna Fontenot has 30 years of experience in public education. Her experience includes serving as an elementary teacher, K-12 counselor, district testing coordinator, and human resources administrator. She currently serves as the Director of Talent Acquisition in Fort Bend ISD.

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