Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series on teacher quality in independent schools. This blog focuses on how independent school educators hire high-quality teachers. The previous blog described the four characteristics of high-quality independent school teachers. The authors of the study and blog posts are Matt Balossi and Natalia R. Hernández, recent graduates of the Peabody College of Education’s doctoral program at Vanderbilt University. NAIS members can access the full report here.
Hiring high-quality teachers is not a choice — it’s an imperative, say researchers Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal (2008) and Douglas Staiger and Jonah Rockoff (2010). Our study with NAIS, On Teacher Quality in Independent Schools, delves into this truism and explores how schools hire. We found that some school leaders even consider hiring the best way to improve the quality of their schools’ teaching force. To select and hire high-quality teachers, leaders rely heavily on demonstration lessons and interviews with various stakeholders, according to our interviews and surveys of school administrators and faculty.
One Way to Improve Teacher Quality
Some administrators we interviewed said that hiring the right teachers is the primary means of improving teaching quality in their schools. Hiring offers an opportunity to improve teacher quality in a different way than providing current teachers with professional development opportunities and giving constructive feedback on their evaluations.
School administrators should use professional development, feedback, and hiring in concert. Doing so will either improve the quality of existing faculty or provide the context when a separation with an ineffective teacher is necessary. Vacancies can occur naturally through attrition, but it is worth noting that independent school administrators have the responsibility to move out ineffective teachers respectfully in order to improve the teaching quality in their schools.
In our interviews, one school leader spoke candidly.
- “The strong lever in improving teachers here really is hiring. I hate to say it this way, but getting rid of the teachers who aren’t on the bus, the ones who aren’t mission-aligned, is one way to improve teacher quality.”
Primary Tool for Hiring: The Demonstration Lesson
All the hiring administrators we interviewed employ demonstration lessons in the selection and hiring practice. Demonstration lessons vary from site to site, but many schools ask final candidates to teach a lesson or an entire class period while various school leaders observe them in action. Typically the demonstration lessons are followed by a post-observation conference with the candidate and observers.
School leaders report that paying close attention to the interactions during the demonstration lesson helps them determine whether a candidate has the four key characteristics of a high-quality teacher. They seek someone who:
- establishes strong relationships with students;
- demonstrates strong pedagogical knowledge and content expertise;
- possesses a growth mindset; and
- fits well within the school’s culture.
For example, school leaders want to witness a teacher’s ability to relate to students almost immediately in the brief scenarios they arrange. They also expect to see a teacher display pedagogical ability and a depth of content knowledge in the demonstration lesson.
In the words of a few leaders we interviewed:
- “If they can’t nail the demonstration lesson, a single lesson with obvious importance, then it is extremely unlikely that they will be able to regularly perform at a high level,” one head of school said.
- “I am really watching for how the teachers relate to the students in those lessons, rather than what kind of bells and whistles or pedagogical wizardry they can pull out of their hat,” another head replied.
- A third school head described the demonstration as a “first date.” The candidate tries to make a good first impression. If the first date doesn’t go well, the chances of a successful relationship are not good.
Some key statistics from our survey of 755 hiring administrators of NAIS member schools include:
- 94 percent report they use demonstration lessons for hiring teachers.
- 45 percent said they require candidates to present a demonstration lesson.
- 40 percent said they consider the practice “important for hiring.”
- When asked to select the two most important variables in a candidate’s hiring process, 50 percent of all respondents selected the demonstration lesson.
- The demonstration lesson outranked the interview with the head of school by 5 percent.
Secondary Tool for Hiring: Interviews with Key Stakeholders
Administrators also value a candidate’s interviews with various stakeholders in the hiring process. They use these supplementary interviews to determine a candidate’s “fit in the school’s culture,” according to our study. Administrators with a great deal of autonomy especially rely on one-on-one interviews. Some key statistics from our survey include:
- 93 percent of respondents rated the interview with the head of school as either important or required in hiring.
- 92 percent rated the interview with the division head as important or required.
- 89 percent rated the interview with faculty colleagues as important or required.
In particular, hiring managers see a candidate’s interviews with faculty as critical in determining whether that candidate is a “fit” for the school culture. As one assistant head of school described, “The word on the street in this city is that our faculty are slightly offbeat. We are known as the nerdy, brainy school. We like our quirkiness, and we like that students who are like that fit here. Our hiring process overall is not very formalized, but one important piece is getting the input of the faculty members on the team. We know that they will make sure that the warmth, niceness, and willingness to help kids is present in the candidate we choose.”
For their part, school heads said their interviews with candidates allow them an opportunity to determine if a candidate’s teaching philosophy aligns with the school’s mission. However, the interview process is not foolproof, heads admitted. Some pointed to instances in which candidates interviewed exceedingly well, but didn’t appear to be a “cultural fit” for the school. Despite such circumstances, heads believe these interviews are an important requirement for the selection and hiring process.
Not Important Tools for Hiring: Certification and Academic Transcripts
Not factoring much into the hiring process: a teacher’s certification and academic transcripts. Administrators consistently rated certification as the least important attribute to hiring high-quality teachers, and just 4 percent of respondents rated a candidate’s transcripts as important in hiring. We are curious about this finding because both certification and transcripts provide measurable evidence of pedagogical knowledge and content expertise. In addition, researchers such as Linda Darling-Hammond contend that raising teacher certification standards is one way to increase the potential of hiring highly qualified teachers. Whether there is a correlation between teacher quality and certification and/or teacher transcripts in independent schools is an area to study further in our view.
The Search for High-Quality Teachers Continues
What is clear from our research: Independent school leaders rely on hiring the right candidates to improve teacher quality in their schools. They use demonstration lessons and interviews with key constituencies to determine whether candidates possess the four traits of high-quality teachers, and interviews play a significant role in assessing whether candidates fit within the school culture.
References
Bolman, Lee G. and Terrence E. Deal. 2008. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (Fourth Edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Staiger, Douglas O. and Jonah E. Rockoff. 2010. “Searching for Effective Teachers with Imperfect Information.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 24 (3): 97–118.
