Green Primary School:

Teacher Selection Process and Recommendations

Jeremy Brueck November 21, 2006

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the master of education degree in educational administration at the University of Akron

Part A.

Green Primary School is quietly nestled off Interstate 77 in southern

Summit County, Ohio. As one of four elementary buildings in the Green Local

School District, it serves all district students in grades 1-2, which amounts to

roughly 650 pupils. Green Primary School is a state of the art facility that was

recently constructed to help relieve overcrowded conditions in other district

buildings. Green Local Schools is somewhat unique in that rather than having

several “community” elementary schools all buildings are based on grade levels.

This means that no matter where you live in the district, students are bussed to

the appropriate grade-level building. I recently spoke with the building principal,

Mrs. Debra Kennedy, regarding the teacher hiring process at Green Primary

School.

Mrs. Kennedy normally knows she will have to fill a teaching vacancy by

the first of April. Retirements and resignations of current employees are reported

to the Green Local School district through the use of an intent form. Once she

knows there will be a vacancy, Mrs. Kennedy fills out the board approved form to

request that a job posting be created. Once the superintendent approves the

job-posting request, his secretary types up the posting, which includes the

application dates, job responsibilities, job description and contact information.

The opening is posted internally for a week and is then posted on the district

website. Mrs. Kennedy indicated that the public posting is normally on the

website by the first of May when she is dealing with the replacement of a retiree

or resignation.

The job posting is normally open for two weeks. During this time, potential

candidates are asked to submit a resume and cover letter to the principal. Mrs.

Kennedy said she often receives up to 150 resumes for one job opening. When

dealing with this quantity of applicants, she files each resume alphabetically and

makes sure to mark it with the date it was received. It is the district’s policy to

keep all resumes received for certified positions on file for one calendar year

from the date of receipt.

With so many resumes to evaluate, Mrs. Kennedy uses a team of

teachers and another district administrator to help her screen the resumes. They

scrutinize each resume and score it based on a checklist. This procedure is

completed within 2 weeks of the closing of the posting period. Using the data

from this the team identifies the top 25% of the resumes and those applicants

move on to the interview screening process. Candidates who are not moving on

in the interview process are sent a letter thanking them for their interest in the

position and notifying them that their resume will be kept on file for a year.

The interview screening process usually begins in May and takes about a

week. Mrs. Kennedy and her team of teachers and another administrator

conduct 10-15 minute screening sessions. The screening consists of a short

interview where the applicant shares their educational background and

experience and also answers a job knowledge question and a situational

question. After the applicant leaves, each team member fills out an evaluation

form. These forms are used as the basis for determining the top 10 applicants

for the position. Mrs. Kennedy’s secretary then contacts the top 10 candidates to

schedule a more in depth interview. For those not moving past the preliminary

screening, a letter is sent thanking them for their interest in the position and

notifying them that their resume will be kept on file for a year.

The next step in the GPS hiring process is a more in depth interview of

each of the top ten candidates. The same individuals involved in the screening

conduct the interviews, which usually last between 30 minutes to an hour in

length. Mrs. Kennedy explained that the interview team meets before the

interviews to go over the job responsibilities and establish a list of questions they

will ask the interviewee. She noted that desired responses to the questions are

also discussed during the team meeting. Team members also discuss who will

ask each question and in what order they will ask them before conducting any

interviews. During each interview, team members keep notes of the responses

of each applicant. After each interview concludes they discuss their notes

concerning the candidates responses. After all interviews are complete, the

team decides on the top two candidates, which they recommend to the Director

of Curriculum for a final interview. For those not moving to the final interview, a

letter is sent thanking them for their interest in the position and notifying them

that their resume will be kept on file for a year. The superintendent’s secretary

calls the two finalists to schedule the interviews. Mrs. Kennedy noted that this is

where the team’s participation in the hiring process ends. She said that after the

final interviews she talks with the superintendent and curriculum director about

the candidates but that they make the final decision. Once the superintendent

and curriculum director make the decisions, Mrs. Kennedy calls the first choice to

see if they are interested accepting the job offer. Once she verifies that the first

choice has accepted, she then calls the candidate who was not chosen to inform

them of the hiring decision.

One of the crucial components to the Green Primary School’s hiring

process involves an interview team. Evidence of this commitment to collaborative

decision-making can be seen in several areas of Mrs. Kennedy’s hiring practices.

Initially, she creates a team to help her evaluate resumes using a checklist. She

then involves the team in the interview screening process where they again

collect data using an evaluation form. More evidence of her shared decision-

making can be seen in the meeting she has with her team before the interview of

the top ten candidates, especially in the creation of the interview questions and

the discussion of the desired responses. I believe that Mrs. Kennedy values the

input of other school stakeholders when evaluating potential employee and is

committed to using a collaborative model of decision-making in her hiring

practice. However, I wonder how effective this collaborative approach is working

in this school district when the final decision regarding hiring is left to just two

people. This final step in the hiring process seems to pose a potential barrier to

the success of Mrs. Kennedy’s decentralized approach since it culminates in a

more hierarchical selection procedure.

Part B.

In a time when schools are providing students with more services than just

the 3 R’s, identifying and hiring the most qualified teacher candidates is vital to

helping all students achieve at the highest levels. School services also impact a

wide variety of stakeholders, not just students, but staff, parents and community

members. Good hiring requires a selection system that helps the staff and

community to appreciate the importance of teaching. Teacher hiring should also

be tied in with district planning. A new teacher must do more than just fill the

current vacancy. They should bring the skills, experiences, and attitudes that

help move the whole system in the directions it needs to go. The following plan

outlines a teacher selection process that features a large and diverse candidate

pool, stage wise reduction of applicants using different kinds of evidence of

candidate quality, involvement of classroom teachers, multiple interviews, and

extensive use of forms and record keeping. The timeline of the plan follows the

calendar year rather than a “school-year” calendar.

Beginning in January, the building principal begins assembling a teacher

selection advisory panel with the help of the district superintendent. The purpose

of this panel is not to hire teachers, but to recommend hiring policy. This will be

a standing team that will consist of the principal, a first grade teacher, a second

grade teacher, a parent and a community member who does not have a child in

the school. This is the panel that will review and update job models to describe

the general nature and level of work expected from classroom teachers and

make sure that the essential functions of the job are aligned with the district’s

vision and mission.

Once the principal is aware of all the upcoming retirements and/or

resignations, which is usually by the beginning of April, the teacher applicant

screening team begins their work. The screening team consists of the guidance

counselor, a special education teacher and the superintendent’s secretary. This

team creates the job posting, working with the teacher selection advisory panel to

make sure the correct job description and essential functions are included in the

job model. The superintendent’s secretary then posts the opening on the district

website the second week in April. The posting period is open for response one

week to current employees and then for the final 2 weeks of the month for all

applicants.

After the position is posted, the screening team is charged with the task of

collecting all the submitted teaching applications, resumes, transcripts,

certification documents and reference letters and organizing them for the teacher

selection committee. A file is created for each applicant and marked with the

date it arrives. These files will be used later in the selection process. The

purpose of this organizational procedure is to ensure that all applicants are

properly licensed for the position that is open before the teacher selection

committee conducts the first round of interviews. The screening process would

be complete by the end of April.

Beginning in May, the teacher selection committee is ready to go to work.

This group consists of the principal, 3 teachers (grade level teacher, special ed

teacher and reading specialist), one cafeteria or custodial staff member, 2

parents, and one community member who does not have a child in school. This

is the group who will actually select the new teacher. Appropriate organizations,

such as teachers' organizations and the PTA will nominate the members of this

committee. Principals would be used to nominate the students, if they are going

to be involved. The teacher selection committee will answer to the advisory

panel, and ultimately recommend the top candidates to the superintendent. The

main task of the teacher selection committee is to condense the number of

applicants for the available position, first to a group of 8-10 through a pre-

interview process then to a priority ranking of the top three candidates after a

more in-depth interview.

The pre-interviews will take place the first three weeks of May. The exact

length of this process could vary depending on how large the pool of candidates

was. The pre-interview is a 10-15 minute meeting that is used to evaluate the

candidate’s personal experience and professional knowledge. Pre-interviews will

be scheduled on multiple days and at various times to accommodate the different

schedules of the applicants.

Prior to the pre-interviews, the teacher selection committee will meet to

review the data collected by the teacher applicant screening team and for training

on the hiring process. During this meeting the team also determines the job-

specific functions, such as curriculum knowledge, classroom management and

motivational techniques, and the non job-specific functions, like commitment,

attitude, and professional growth goals, which the team is looking for in the

applicants. These criteria are used to design a candidate evaluation form that

the team will use during each of the pre-interviews. This evaluation form will

contain a scoring mechanism that the team members will use to score each of

the applicants during the pre-interview. Upon completion of the pre-interviews,

the teacher selection team will review the candidate evaluation forms to

determine the top 8-10 candidates who will progress in the interview process.

Those applicants who will not receive a selection interview will be notified

through a letter from the building principal thanking them for their interest in the

position and notifying them that their resume will be kept on file for a year. A

member of teacher applicant screening team will notify the candidates who are

moving on and will also schedule the selection interviews.

The selection interviews allow each applicant an equal opportunity to

secure a position with the district. These interviews will be longer in length,

ranging from 30-45 minutes, and will help determine which of the highly qualified

candidates is best suited to fill the open position through the use of a structured

format. These interviews provide the teacher selection committee an opportunity

to examine the view of each candidate regarding job-specific functions and non

job-specific functions. Selection interviews will occur during the final week in

May.

Before the selection interviews, the teacher selection committee will meet

again for training and group dialogue. Although the selection interview questions

will be similar to the pre-interview questions, they will be more detailed and

inquisitive. The selection committee will carefully craft situational, simulation, job

knowledge, job sample and work required type questions for the selection

interviews and discuss the desired responses to each.

Examples of these types of questions would be: You have a student who

continues to misbehave and be insubordinate, what steps would you take to

solve the problem? My son has ADHD, how do you plan to accommodate his

needs? Explain cooperative learning. How would you incorporate

multiculturalism into your classroom? How do you plan to enhance your

professional skills in the future?

During the selection interviews, members of the teacher selection

committee will document all interviews by taking notes. These should include the

rationale for the applicant's final appraisal, along with direct quotes from the

candidate. The notes should include to job-related issues only. After completing

all of the selection interviews, each committee member would rank order the top

three candidates. Group discussion of the top candidates will ensue, which will

ultimately result in a group consensus of the top three candidates. These

candidates will be recommended for hire to the district superintendent, who

makes final hiring decisions in Green Local Schools.

The superintendent’s secretary will contact the top three candidates to

schedule their final interview with the district superintendent during the first week

of June. Those candidates who are not in the top three will be contacted by the

building principal to thanking them for their interest in the position, explaining that

the position has been filled and notifying them that their resume will be kept on

file for a year and considered for future openings. The district superintendent will

make the final decision and recommend the top candidate for hire to the board of

education by their regularly scheduled meeting on the third Monday in June.

Board approval of the hire will complete the hiring process.

The stakeholders of Green Primary must be in agreement regarding the

importance of effective teacher selection to have a successful school. In order to

secure the best possible educators and meet school needs, all participants in the

hiring process must be strongly committed to the task. The hiring framework

outlined above provides for checks and balances at every turn and guarantees to

parents and community members a voice in the teacher selection process.

References

Peterson, K. D., Stevens, D., & Ponzio, R. C. (1998). Variable data sources in

teacher evaluation. Journal of Research and Development in Education.

v31 (3), p123-32.

Seyfarth, John T. (2004). Human resources management for effective schools

(4th Edition). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Stronge, J. H., & Hindman, J. L. (2003). Hiring the best teachers. Educational

Leadership. v60 (8), p48-52.