3.1 Recruit Talented Teachers
Attracting talented people to the teaching profession in sufficient numbers has become difficult in California. Part of the challenge is demographic.
The National Center for Education Statistics regularly surveys the demographics of teachers. Women comprise more than 80% of the teaching workforce in elementary grades and more than half of it in secondary grades. This ratio has remained stable for generations. In 1964, more than half of working women with college degrees were teachers. By 1996, however, the ranks of college-educated women had grown dramatically. Teaching’s share of educated women’s work had fallen to 15%.
With increased professional options for women, the teaching profession has struggled to attract the strongest candidates. In the 1960s, about a quarter of all female teachers graduated in the top 10% of their college class. By the 1990’s, only a tenth did so.
Teaching is very labor-intensive, and therefore expensive. Staff-related costs (wages and benefits) are by far the largest category of expense in the school system. As the US economy has grown more productive, wages for jobs requiring a college degree have risen at about twice the rate of inflation. Teacher pay has failed to keep pace with this trend.
Ultimately, the supply of teachers depends on the attractiveness of the teaching profession. In the decade after 2000, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL) documented that enrollment in teacher preparation programs had fallen significantly.
As these demographic changes have taken place, teaching has become less attractive relative to alternative professions. In analysis of 2001 data, McKinsey, a consultancy, compared teachers in the US with top-achieving school systems such as Finland, Singapore, and South Korea. They found that these education-focused countries consistently attract teachers from the top ranks of college graduates, and that teachers in these countries earn salaries comparable to lawyers and engineers. In the US, by contrast, teaching disproportionately attracts graduates from the bottom third of college graduates.
In response to this macroeconomic challenge to the attractiveness of teaching, it has become more and more important to take a direct approach. If you want brilliant people to become teachers, ask them. They might say yes. The most prominent example of this strategy is national college-campus recruiting powerhouse Teach for America, which actively recruits top talent from top colleges to begin their careers in teaching. Teachin is not always a first career, however. For example, California-based Encorps (founded by a former member of Full Circle Fund) recruits talent among experienced professionals who want a meaningful next career.
Next: 3.2 Prepare and Certify Teachers
What does it take to successfully recruit talented teachers in the 21st Century? Here are some thoughts regarding how to attract the best and brightest to this most noble profession:
1. Increase teacher pay over the next decade to bring it on par with other “like” professions. Period. Let’s face it, what people earn matters. And, only by first tackling cash compensation can one then address the complex question of benefit structures, a hot-button issue that is diverting attention and resources from other more important matters.
2. Influence unions to better promote the teaching profession and better prepare potential teachers for success, rather than focusing almost exclusively on saving jobs. Nick Kristof, in his recent NYT column “Pay Teachers More”, said, “Look, I’m not a fan of teachers’ unions. They used their clout to gain job security more than pay, thus making the field safe for low achievers.”
3. Raise the standards, return esteem to the position. Ongoing professional development, quality mentorship programs, and meaningful performance evaluations encourage excellence and let teachers know they’re valued. We lose almost 50% of teachers recruited in their first 5 years. My guess is it isn’t because we expect too much, but because we expect too little.
4. Allow for disruption and inventiveness, creating new opportunities and attracting new thinkers. The profession needs to be more open to pioneering classroom and teaching models such as those advocated by Rocketship Education and School of One.
5. Support and learn from all successful recruiting and training methods. Teach for America, for example, has a proven ability to recruit and place thousands of students who are top-of-their-class and who receive cosmic joy from teaching.
Teaching matters. Just ask me how Mrs. Reading, my 3rd-grade teacher, made such a significant difference in my young life.
Chuck Pappalardo is the managing director of Trilogy Search Non+Profit, an executive search firm.
As teacher recruitment turns to the upper grades of middle and high school, I would add one more must to Chuck’s list…we must find and cultivate teachers who have a strong passion for and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.
By 6th grade, studies in California and the US show that significant numbers of children lose interest in STEM subjects and that the content knowledge of STEM teachers begins to become a problem – especially in low income schools. For these reasons, EnCorps recruits scientists, chemists and engineers to become teacher and teacher supports.
In order to attract increasing numbers of effective STEM teachers in our most challenging schools, I challenge all of us to 1) pilot new ways to bring STEM expertise into the classroom – whether as teachers, co-teachers, tutors or perhaps in new positions, 2) develop sustainable ways to increase teacher salaries, 3) streamline the hiring processes for teachers so that our biggest school districts don’t continue to lose significant numbers of qualified teachers to a 3 month + lag in hiring and 4) continue to let our state government know that unpredictable state budgets and three months of PR about RIF notices wreak havoc on the ability of schools to attract and hire great folks.