Human Resources & Charter Schools Hiring, Turnover, & Retention in 7 States

1. Human Resources & Charter SchoolsHiring, Turnover, & Retention in 7 States The National Charter School Research Project University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education & The Massachusetts Charter School Dissemination & Replication Project Harvard Graduate School of Education

2. Session Overview • Part I How do (and can) charter schools find and keep the teachers they need? • Part II How do five high-performing, high-poverty charter schools approach hiring and retention? • Discussion How can charter schools develop deliberate and effective human resource strategies?

3. Part IHow do (and can) charter schools find the teachers they need? Presented by Betheny Gross & Jon Christensen Center on Reinventing Public Education’s National Charter School Research Project

4. The Freedom to Compete Regulatory Freedom Market and performance-based personnel policies Better Teachers and Better Fits Competition

5. The Freedom to Compete Regulatory Freedom Market and performance-based personnel policies Better teachers; better fits Competition Evaluation and dismissal for poor performance Expanded pool of candidates Competitive timelines Incentives-based compensation Offer and match to a compelling mission

6. The Freedom to Compete Regulatory Freedom Market and performance-based personnel policies Better teachers; Better fits Competition Expanded pool of candidates Dismissal for poor performance Competitivetimelines Incentives-based compensation Offer and match to a compelling mission

7. Stories Differ…Locale matters • Variation across charter schools by state policy, labor market conditions, organizational characteristics, types of vacancies • Competition is largely local leaving sector to sector comparisons limited

8. Taking a Look Inside Charter Schools Survey of personnel policies in 370 charter schools • Six states representing a range of regulation (AZ, TX, CA, RI, HI) • Questions about recruitment, hiring, and compensation • Complementary survey of school districts for local comparisons

9. Four Aspects of Competition • Recruitment timing • When do they “go to market?” When do they conduct interviews and make offers? • The Labor pool and selection • Who can teach? • What matters more quality or qualifications? • Compensation • How much do they pay? • What do they pay for? • Evaluation and dismissal • How is performance monitored? • Do school dismiss poor performers?

10. Finding Out What Matters • Quantity of applicants • How many applicants per position? • Satisfaction with applicant pool • How satisfied are you with the candidates you get?

11. What We Learned Some charter schools are showing some competitive practice The story from sector-to-sector comparisons can be very different from the story that accounts for local conditions and contexts Competitive practices don’t always yield better labor market outcomes for schools

12. Recruitment Timing: Getting a Jump on the Competition Typically charters lag behind their local district but being ahead may pay off

13. Labor Pool: Casting a Wide Net Confirms what we already know – charter schools do look beyond the traditional styled candidate somewhat Surprisingly, charters in less restrictive states are not more likely to downplay certification or experience

14. Compensation: Letting Money Talk • Sector to sector charters are similar but local differences can be as high as almost $4000 • Money matters...

15. Compensation: Letting Money Talk More charters using incentives for performance and shortage fields but…only a minority of schools are getting a “competitive edge” with the incentives. A competitive edge with incentives may help with getting applicants but not necessarily better satisfaction with them.

16. Evaluation and Dismissal: Keeping the Best • While charter teachers are evaluated about as often as TPS teachers evaluations are more likely to involve teachers, parents or others in the school • Charter schools more successfully dismiss poor teachers

17. Who’s in the Game? Anyone! • No systematic relationship between common organizational traits and likelihood to engage competitively in the market place. • Some simple and even costless changes have the potential to make a difference.

18. Part IIHow do five high-performing, high-poverty charter schools approach hiring and retention? Presented by Kristy Cooper, Mara Tieken, John Roberts, & Chris Wynne Harvard Graduate School of Education

19. Research Study Purposes • To distinguish common and differing elements in high-performing charter schools • To inform policy-makers, charter school authorizers, and educators about best practices in five high-performing charter schools in Massachusetts

20. Selection of 5 Case Study Sites • Criteria set by the Massachusetts Charter School Dissemination & Replication Project: • Schools located in high poverty districts • Schools with renewed charters • Schools that made AYP in 2006 • Schools outperforming sending districts on MCAS

21. Research Methodology • Over 80 interviews with teachers, administrators, and specialists at the 5 schools. • Parent focus group at each school. • Over 40 days of observation in the schools. • Analysis of school reports and documents.

22. “Hiring is the most important thing that we do.  It's a huge, huge, huge luxury that cannot be overstated with charter school leaders.  There are some district principals who I know who have experience and have some flexibility over hiring. If it was me in my age and my experience in a regular district school, it's very unlikely that I would have a lot of power over who I could hire. Certainly over whom I could let go.  So that's the major advantage that we have as a charter school. We try to take full advantage of that, and we spend a significant amount of time on the hiring process...” - Roxbury Prep Administrator

23. Human Resources Research Questions • Why do teachers choose these schools? • What is the hiring process? • What do these schools look for? • Why do teachers leave these schools? • How do these schools view teacher retention? • How do these schools attempt to retain teachers?

24. The 5 Case Study Sites

25. THE MATCH CHARTER PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLBoston, Massachusetts Founded in 2000220 Students in Grades 9-12 62% African American 30% Hispanic 4% White 2% Asian 2% Multi-race non-Hispanic 11% Special Education 70% Low Income 4 Year Graduation Rate from MATCH = 60% 2005-2006 Drop Out Rate = 3.2% Data as of October 1, 2007 at : http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.asp?mode=so&so=2026-13&ot=12&o=2025&view=all

26. BOSTON COLLEGIATE CHARTER SCHOOLDorchester, Massachusetts Founded in 1998412 Students in Grades 5-12 64% White 27% African-American 6% Hispanic 2% Asian 1% Multi-race non-Hispanic 17% Special Education 42% Low Income 4-Year Graduation Rate (2007) = 93% 2005-2006 Dropout Rate = 0% Data as of October 3, 2007 at : http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.asp?mode=o&view=all&mcasyear=2007&ot=12&o=2003

27. COMMUNITY DAY CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLLawrence, Massachusetts Founded in 1995330 Students in Grades K-8 87% Hispanic 9% White 2% African-American 1% Asian 1% Multi-race 18% Special Education 64% Low Income 80% First Language not English Data as of October 3, 2007 at : http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.asp?mode=o&view=all&mcasyear=2007&ot=12&o=1989

28. ROXBURY PREPARATORY CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLRoxbury, Massachusetts Founded in 1999198 Students in Grades 6-8 61.1% African American 32.8% Hispanic 1.5% Native American 4.5% Multi-race non-Hispanic 11.6% Special Education 69.7% Low Income Data as of October 1, 2007 at : http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.asp?mode=so&so=2026-13&ot=12&o=2025&view=all

29. ACADEMY OF THE PACIFIC RIMHyde Park, Massachusetts Founded in 1997472 Students in Grades 5-12 57% African-American 23% White 16% Hispanic 3% Asian 1% Multi-race non-Hispanic 13% Special Education 51% Low Income 4-Year Graduation Rate (2007) = 90.3% 2005-2006 Dropout Rate = 0.7% Data as of October 1, 2007 at : http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/home.asp?mode=o&view=all&mcasyear=2007&ot=12&o=1969

30. Findings on Hiring & Retention

31. Why do teachers choose these schools? • Philosophical Alignment with Mission • To Serve a “Calling” • Goodness of Fit • Reputation • Potential Advancement into Leadership • Structured Working Environment

32. Why do teachers choose these schools? “You know how you come in and you’re looking at different schools and you’re like, “I’m relatively young and I get a good vibe from this school. I like the mission,” things like that. … But I just came here and, for lack of a better word, fell in love with the whole mission, the kids, just those things that you can’t quite put your finger on sometimes.” - Community Day Teacher

33. What is the hiring process? • A Typical Hiring Process: • Job posted, review resumes • Phone interviews • On-site interviews • Sometimes observed in current teaching job • Invited to teach sample lesson • Feedback from teachers, administrators, students • Second visit to to meet staff, see school, observe • Discuss strengths & weaknesses • Question whether the candidate will fit into school culture

34. What is the hiring process? “We make a posting, and then we get resumes. They do an initial resume cut, and we do a phone interview. After phone interviews, I invite people in for a tour and to observe classes and meet with us and interview further because obviously we want it to be a good match for them as well as for us. So we want them to see what goes on at the school. That takes a couple of hours. Then the finalists come in and teach a sample lesson, and then we discuss the lesson with them.” - APR Administrator

35. What do these schools look for? • Goodness of Fit Criteria: • Passionate about the Mission • Related Experience • Ability to Relate to Students • Devoted - Willingness to Work Long Hours • Support Standards-Based Accountability • Content Expertise Emphasized in Some Schools

36. What do these schools look for? “High school is a hard time, and kids can get very sullen. They can get pretty apathetic. And when your mission is to get them prepared for college and know that socially they can handle that and that they’re going to be resilient, and when they get kicked down they’re going to come back fighting, they need to be surrounded by love at the school in order to help foster that. If they’re not, then we’re in big trouble. So I’m just eager to meet as many candidates as I can that are going to love our students.” - Boston Collegiate Administrator

37. What do these schools look for? “We want someone who’s pretty much ready to sell their soul to the devil, who’s not going to have any sort of private life at all – a minimal one. Because when you come here, you have to obviously devote yourself to at least 12 hours a day, and that doesn’t include weekends. So you want someone who is very young and has a lot of energy.” - MATCH Administrator

38. What is the turnover in these schools?

39. Why do teachers leave these schools? • Philosophical Mismatch • Moving On • Relocation • Graduate school • Shift in Personal Priorities • Family commitments • Professional goals • Long hours • Incompatibility with specific school conditions

40. Why do teachers leave these schools? “Not a good fit could mean a lot of things. Typically it’s because they don’t get the no-excuses, urgency piece, or they’re general teachers, or they’re of the go-it-alone mentality, or overwhelmed, you know just really struggle.” “And nine out of ten cases, it's a mutual thing. The teacher's struggling, they realize it's not a good fit or they don't want to be in teaching, or they burned out.” - APR Administrators

41. Why do teachers leave these schools? “Competition in life. You know, if you are a young woman and you just got married and you want to start a family, … those types of people are gonna go. One of the teachers, he wants to be a doctor, so he has to move on.” - APR Administrator “We lose teachers every year when teaching staff have children or they get married - especially when they have children. It seems to be really challenging trying to balance both here.” - MATCH Administrator

42. How do these schools view teacher retention? • Different perspectives on turnover and retention • Some willing to accept turnover as a tradeoff for teacher quality • Willingness to accept turnover might be a luxury of reputation and location

43. How do these schools view teacher retention? “I think the perception is... that charter school work is harder and that there’s more asked of teachers. And there is. But I think that one of the things that we’re interested in, in terms of being sustainable and replicable, is finding that balance. If you can’t work here and also have a family and manage your life and grow in a career, then we’re failing as a school. If we’re just turning people over who are young and leave as soon as they get married and have kids, then you know, that’s not the school I want this to be.” - Boston Collegiate Administrator

44. How do these schools view teacher retention? “Do I wish ultimately everyone who’s good, everyone who came and it worked out and was very effective, stayed for five to seven years? Sure, the school would be stronger. But when I interview, I think about what's going to be best for kids next year. … We try to put systems in place so that we're not starting over every time we have a new teacher. And those systems have worked out pretty well. And sure, right now, teachers are staying, I think, three to five years. If we could make that five to seven, on average, perfect. But I don't think we're going to be willing to decline the quality for that.” - Roxbury Prep Administrator

45. How do these schools attempt to retain teachers? • Prioritizing Fit During the Hiring Process • Mentoring and Induction Programs • Incentive Programs • Teacher Retention Committees • Leadership Opportunities

46. How do these schools attempt to retain teachers? “We now understand that brand new teachers aren’t going to be really effective no matter where they come from, Harvard or any other place. They're not effective year one, which is a learning curve for me. I thought when you brought any smart person into a classroom, teaching is a skill, but it’s hard for them. It does take experience even if you're very smart. You still have to practice those skills to really hone them. We're trying to understand about supporting teachers in their very early years and keeping them with us a bit longer, but also giving them the kind of help they need so they don't become discouraged.” - Community Day Administrator

47. Conclusions • These 5 high-performing charter schools... • Focus on goodness of fit from day one • Understand hiring and retention as a mutual process whereby teachers and schools both make decisions • View hiring, retention, and training as three sides of the same issue • Are not necessarily concerned about turnover, which may be a benefit of reputation and location

48. Recommendation #1 • Prioritize fit by clarifying your mission, philosophies, and practices during the hiring process. • Present a clear concise mission: Roxbury Prep: “Prepare students to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college.” • Offer opportunities for candidates to experience school culture during the hiring process

49. Recommendation #2 • Consider your local educational and labor market conditions when strategizing about hiring. • Boston Market Conditions • Over 35 colleges and universities • 79% of area residents over 25 have at least a high school education • 14 charter public schools

50. Recommendation #3 • Be deliberate in human resource strategies • Understand hiring, training, induction, and retention as related, and integrate them intentionally • Ensure that these processes reflect school priorities