District Administration - January 2010 - (Page 47)

Advertiser Index 3LCD CV2 www.3lcd.com CDI Computers . 1 www.cdicomputers.com North Shore contracted with Ventures for Excellence, a talent selection and development firm with a primary focus in education, to implement a selection process that was research-based and structured to be consistent, predictable and aligned with district goals. Fundamentally, this process seeks to help administrators acquire an understanding of the attitudes, skills and behaviors of teachers who strive for excellence. A four-day training and a variety of screening and interview/selection tools equipped North Shore school administrators to identify a teacher’s sense of purpose, beliefs and attitudes about education and students, and human relations skills. The idea is that if you can get the teacher with the right purpose and orientation, you help that teacher to acquire the skills and knowledge to achieve positive learning outcomes for students. In essence, attitude is everything. North Shore used a profile builder, called the Style Profile, an online screening tool, to select teachers similar to the district’s best teachers. This Web-based questionnaire contains 32 questions that pose real-life scenarios to uncover an individual’s innate qualities and work style. Lubelfeld sees the practical application in that the tool helps his team select the top 15 percent of applicants that match their district goals. For example, North Shore uses the Style Profiler to screen 300 applications in order to select about 45. A candidate essay is used to further narrow the pool of 45 to 8 or so candidates, who are called for a structured interview. The Style Profiler saves administrators from wading through piles of paper, and it leads them to make consistent decisions based on the goals of the district. School administrators use a structured interview with 22 questions in 11 areas of teacher excellence (attitude, skills, interpersonal relations, etc.) to select a small number of finalists. A further structured interview is then www.DistrictAdministration.com used to select the teacher candidate. This tool has 30 questions in 15 areas of excellence. Lubelfeld also uses a background check developed by Ventures for Excellence so that the whole process is consistent and predictable from beginning to end. Teacher Retention Improved Lubelfeld reports that as the process was implemented throughout the district, administrators were more consistent in their selection of teachers and their retention rate improved from 80 percent of newly hired teachers in 2005-2006 to 94 percent of new teachers in 2008-2009. The district has hired 221 teachers in the past four years. According to Lubelfeld, this process enabled administrators to more consistently select teacher candidates based on the shared beliefs of the learning community. Teacher candidates are now more likely to match the values of the district, and they are selected based on a clear sense of purpose about student learning, the belief that all students can be successful, and a commitment to the value and worth of all people in the learning process. Teacher selection deserves rigorous examination to make sure that core school values, best practice in pedagogy, and student outcomes are aligned. This foundation is critical to implement a selection process that identifies the teachers with the best likelihood to improve student learning in the classroom. Of course, the systematic exploration of what makes an exemplary teacher that is inherent in this process can also inform subsequent staff development and teacher evaluation throughout the entire organization. DA Eamonn O’Donovan is assistant superintendent of human resources in Los Alamitos Unified School District in California. CDW-G CV3 www.CDWG.com/K12education Century Consultants 3 www.centuryltd.com DA Web Seminar 33,45 www.DistrictAdministration.com/webseminars Epson America Inc. . 5 www.epsonbrighterfutures.com/admin Follett Software Company CV4 www.FollettSoftware.com Golden Era Productions 20 www.thewaytohappiness.org Google, Inc. 9 www.google.com/apps/schools K12 23 www.K12.com/powerspeak-demo NetSupport, Inc 7 www.netsupportschool.com New Haven Public Schools 42 www.nhps.net Nova Southeastern University 25 www.FischlerSchool.nova.edu/DistrictAdmin OnCourse Systems for Education, LLC 11 www.OnCourseSystems.com Polar Electro, Inc. 13-16 www.polarusa.com/education Sharp Electronics Corporation 2 www.sharpusa.com/education Tyler Technologies, Inc. 49 www.tylertech.com Video Furniture International 31 www.video-furn.com Weekly Reader Corporation 4 www.wrconnect.com WIMBA 29 www.wimba.com/K12 January 2010 47 http://www.3lcd.com http://www.cdicomputers.com http://www.CDWG.com/K12education http://www.centuryltd.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com/webseminars http://www.epsonbrighterfutures.com/admin http://www.FollettSoftware.com http://www.thewaytohappiness.org http://www.google.com/apps/schools http://www.K12.com/powerspeak-demo http://www.netsupportschool.com http://www.nhps.net http://www.FischlerSchool.nova.edu/DistrictAdmin http://www.OnCourseSystems.com http://www.polarusa.com/education http://www.sharpusa.com/education http://www.tylertech.com http://www.video-furn.com http://www.wrconnect.com http://www.wimba.com/K12 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2010

District Administration - January 2010
Table of Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Health Update
Curriculum Update
District Profile
The Feud Over Food
Discipline Gets the Boot
Cutting Technology Costs with Refurbished Computers
Will Pensions Bankrupt Your District?
Tech Disruptions
Crisis Response
Supervisor’s Opinion
Product Focus
New Products
Online Edge

District Administration - January 2010