Fight or Fix? The Competition for Teachers - school district partnerships in recruitment of teachers

School Administrator, Jan, 2001 by Esther B. Coleman

School districts try partnerships as a preferred approach to address their recruitment challenges

At a recent meeting of school personnel administrators, some of the more lively discussions focused on state regulations for the release of individual teachers from their employment contracts and a release agreement proposed by the state's district superintendents.

Prior to the latest crisis in teacher supply and demand, the school districts in this state had cooperated under a courtesy agreement that no school district would hire a teacher from another district without a letter of release by a given mid-summer deadline.

Well, so much for kindly relations in today's supercharged environment for new teaching talent in our classrooms. For the first time in my long affiliation with these personnel leaders, a testy dispute erupted over whether they should endorse the superintendent's proposal. The personnel folks believed they would be handcuffed in filling critical staffing needs in their schools if held to this standard.

The disagreement centered around the so-called "stealing of teachers" among these school districts. In effect, the heightened competition to recruit quality teachers from a shrinking candidate pool had led to a stalemate over the proposed hiring reform. Watching the startling developments, I was reminded how competition stifles progress and how cooperation usually yields better results.

Recruiting partnerships are the antithesis to competition. To ascertain the state of partnerships among school districts nationally, I surveyed the membership of the American Association of School Personnel Directors. The findings were published in an AASPA research brief, "Building Recruiting Partnerships."

Defining Collaboration

An effective recruiting partnership represents a relationship between school personnel departments and other agencies characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility. Each partner provides capital, expertise and labor for finding the best teachers.

The primary goal of these partnerships is to renew and restore the vitality of the teaching candidate pool. Teacher shortages impede the ability of school districts to ensure that quality teachers are placed in every grade level and subject area.

Winston Odom, former executive director of personnel with the Hampton City, Va., Schools, offered a view echoed by others at the meeting. He said he considered a recruiting partnership "a collective community effort. It is a venture where colleges, businesses, churches, government and other vested publics decide that, in the best interest of the children, working together to attract quality employees enhances the educational system."

The survey respondents described their struggles to find qualified teachers. Patricia Valentine, personnel director with Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22 in Doylestown, Pa., outlined three challenges: "First, there is a higher turnover of younger candidates who may not stay for long periods of time in one district. Second, universities are failing to prepare adequate numbers of candidates in certain subject areas, creating an artificial shortage and interfering with the market value of positions. And third, there is difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers of color in substantially white demographic areas."

In addition to identifying minority candidates and staff in fields such as special education, counseling, library/media and administration, many commented on the competition their smaller districts were facing from neighboring metropolitan school districts.

Valentine believes recruiting consortia offer advantages to smaller, less-affluent school systems. She lists these benefits as "wider name recognition, greater lobbying power with colleges and universities and more opportunities for teachers of color."

Partnerships between a school district and a local university that runs teacher training programs have another advantage, says Mike Sutherland, recruitment specialist for the Fairfax County, Va., schools. "Recruiting partnerships give [us] an opportunity to help shape university programs. For example, we provide funding for university programs that produce special education candidates."

Model Partnerships

We have identified several model recruiting partnerships through our work. These models are unique approaches that have yielded increased numbers of teaching candidates for the school districts. In addition, several models feature training components aimed at improving teacher quality and retention.

The Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools have developed Professional Development School agreements with George Mason University, Marymount University, Virginia Polytechnic University and George Washington University. Several of these agreements focus on special education interns. Another deals exclusively with mathematics and science interns.

Kings Park Elementary School serves as one of the Fairfax/GMU partnership schools. The school's principal, Mary Agnes Garman, has hired five interns from their PDS program as full-time teachers. "It is amazing to interview the wonderful, bright candidates who complete their internships here. It is clear that they think reading instruction," Garman says.