Use strategic hiring aligned to the instructional model, including observing candidates teach and recruiting for mission-specific qualifications¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

RSF schools devoted many months to hiring, and two schools modeled strategic hiring. One principal "sought candidates who had more than 3 years of teaching experience, had worked in urban schools, and had or were considering pursuing a master's degree," observing each candidate teach live or by video and partnering with a teacher preparation program to hire its most accomplished apprentices. Another school hired only credentialed bilingual teachers, aggressively recruiting experienced bicultural, biliterate teachers with master's degrees, using its focused mission to attract skilled candidates despite conventional wisdom that such teachers are hard to find.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Time and process for multi-stage selection, including lesson demonstrations and board interviews; alignment between hiring criteria and the school's instructional model

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Students in new urban schools of choice

Target Learning Goals¶

• Effective implementation of a school's instructional model through teacher quality

Related Strategies¶

• Standardize the hiring process with structured interviews, competency-aligned protocols, and performance-based tasks
• Embed professional development in daily school work through multiple mutually reinforcing conduits focused on a limited set of school-wide goals
• Fund and guide Grow Your Own programs to attract candidates of color into teaching

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Young, V. M., Humphrey, D. C., Wang, H., Bosetti, K. R., Cassidy, L., Wechsler, M. E., Rivera, E., Murray, S., & Schanzenbach, D. W. (2008). Renaissance Schools Fund-Supported Schools: Early Outcomes, Challenges, and Opportunities. SRI International. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/renaissance-schools-fund-supported-schools-early-outcomes-challenges-and-opportunities