Whitaker Chapter 9: Recruiting and Retaining Talent

What is the one main goal when hiring new teachers?

• Help them settle in and make them feel comfortable right away.

• Do everything in your power to ensure they do not leave the profession.

• Hire teachers that have characteristics that align with your vision of what you want your school to be.

• Mold your new hire to fit into the school as it is now.

With many school districts in the country facing teacher shortages, how can principals stay proactive in attracting quality teachers?

• Contact the student-teacher supervisors at a local college and ask to do practice interviews with their student teachers.

• Check on the applications daily. Eventually a quality candidate will apply.

• Do nothing. Quality teachers will find you if they want a job.

• Delegate this job to an assistant principal. You have more important things to do.

Once relationships are built with student-teacher supervisors, request that student-teachers be placed in your school. How could this proactive measure benefit a school leader in attracting quality teacher candidates?

• You have an opportunity to observe these teacher candidates prior to an interview.

• The student teachers have time to form positive relationships within the building making your school more attractive to them.

• Student-teachers are more likely to apply for a position at your school because they are already there.

• All answers are correct.

Which of the following would be an effective interview question for a biology teacher candidate?

• In what stage of mitosis to the spindle fibers line up the chromosomes in the middle of the cell?

• Why do you want to become a teacher?

• It is the first day of school, you don't know your student's names yet. Two boys in the back row are being disruptive. What would you do?

• What value would you bring to my school?

You are checking references for a potential biology teacher. You call and ask their previous principal to rate the candidate on a scale of 1 to 10 for classroom management. If their answer is 10, what would a good follow up question be?

• How many teachers do you have at your school, and how many of them are 10s?

• How did they do at the staff kickball game last year?

• How would they rate for leadership skills?

• How many referrals did they write last year?

What can new teachers bring to a school?

• Energy

• Enthusiasm

• Ideas

• All answers are correct.

According to the National Commission for Teaching and America's Future, nearly __% of new teachers will leave the profession in the first 5 years.

• 10

• 30

• 50

• 75

Of the many reasons for teacher turnover, which of the following is within the influence of the principal?

• Pay

• County required PD

• New opportunities outside of teaching

• Leadership quality

It is best to give a new teacher a few months to settle in before observing them.

• True

• False

Selecting a teacher mentor should primarily be based on the teacher's common schedule and or planning time.

• True

• False