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Culture of Success in DCPS: Keeping and Attracting the Best Teachers for Public Schools in our Nation’s Capital. Andrew Choi, Kelly Heintz, Kitty Law, Mark Schwartzman USC Marshall School of Business.
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Culture of Success in DCPS:Keeping and Attracting the Best Teachersfor Public Schools in our Nation’s Capital Andrew Choi, Kelly Heintz, Kitty Law, Mark Schwartzman USC Marshall School of Business
“If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.”-Bill Gates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 2009 Annual Letter
Executive Summary Although progress has been made, District of Columbia Public Schools still ranked last on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2007 Teacher quality is a driver of student achievement, and DCPS is addressing this human capital management strategy on several fronts Implementing a focused retention, removal, and recruitment strategy will build on these efforts to bring the best teachers to DCPS
Assumptions • Our approach is based on the following assumptions: • The proposed teacher union contract and compensation system are approved • Most tenured teachers will stay in the red tier • All new teachers would be hired under the green tier • The proposed teacher union contract would remove seniority as a requirement for hiring and re-assigning teachers
Our Approach: Build from the Inside through Retention Remove Recruitment Retention The Human Capital team needs to approach teacher recruitment by first focusing on retention and keeping existing high-performing teachers
The DC Community is heavily invested in the success of its schools parents must be involved in their child’s education DCPS establishes a Culture of High Achievement & Expectations that drives all decision-making on the human capital value chain School System Principals drive the culture within their school, setting high performance expectations for all teachers & students School Leaders Community Teachers embody the culture in the classroom, motivating students to achieve, demanding high performance, refusing to tolerate failure & serving as academic role models Teachers The DC Community impacts and is impacted by all the human components of the DCPS culture must have the support and buy-in of the entire community Students are motivated & disciplined; they thrive in a Culture of High Expectations, pushing themselves & each other towards success, with the ultimate goal of graduating from high school and going to college Students Retain: Building a Culture of Success
Retain: Allowing Teachers to Thrive • Professional Growth Opportunities • Impactful mentorship • Comprehensive induction programs • Career Ladder • Continual & consistent Professional Development • Leadership • Supportive leaders • Environment of trust & collaboration • Teacher autonomy • Accountability • Effective evaluation methods • Student Behavior • Teacher autonomy on discipline & behavioral issues • System of positive reinforcement (modeled after KIPP’s Paycheck Program)
Retain: Articulate Career Ladder Apprentice Teacher Resident Teacher Master Teacher Teacher Leader • Teacher Aide or Assistant • Sourced thru DC Teacher Prep Academy • < 2 years of teaching • Sourced thru Teach for America / DC Teaching Fellows • 2-4+ years of teaching; proficient in core competencies • Sourced thru DC Master Teacher Corps • Leadership position in school; possible stepping stone to School Director / Assistant Principal • Provide clearly defined levels of opportunities for teachers to grow in their careers through increasing levels of responsibilities • Ensure teachers are brought in at the appropriate levels and given the attention required to increase retention • Remove practices of seniority bumping and lax staffing strategies • Track professional development at each level and impact on instruction and student learning • Allow teachers to set their own SMART objectives and measure themselves against those expectations • Align teachers compensation with individual, student, and school goals Career Ladder Transformation
Remove: Evaluation, Proposed PPEP • Data • Lesson plans • Unstructured classroom observation form • Self-assessments, personal goal setting (SMART) • Portfolios • Student test data • Student work samples • Evaluators • School principal (formal) • Professional developers (informal) • Support • Helping teacher • Professional development, training • Timing • Ongoing (informal) • Annually (formal)
Recruit: Marketing Changing the Status of Teaching The Status of Teaching • Create distinct brands with a separate status associated with the program • Implement carefully constructed marketing strategies linked to recruitment programs • The top-performing school systems consistently attract more able people into the teaching profession, leading to better student outcomes. They do this by: • Making entry to teacher training highly selective • Developing the right processes for selecting the right applicants to become teachers • Driving up the status of the profession Best Practice: TDA in England • TDA had been given the task of raising quality and quantity of applicants into teaching • Segmented its target audience, tracked candidates through a relationship management system, and received feedback through market research • Supported two differentiated programs to appeal to different segments of the market Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) has made teaching the most popular profession in England among undergraduates and graduates in just 5 years
Recruit: The War For Talent By building strong recruiting programs and taking aggressive action will DCPS be able to thrive and win the war for talent
Recruit: DC Master Teacher Corps Training Sessions Summer Sabbatical Centre for Classroom Progress • Teachers participate in four training sessions at locations across the country • The sessions include discussion of case studies, site visits, lectures, expert panels, reading assignments and interactive projects • Teachers participate in a self-directed summer study: research, conferences • Teachers build skills for management and instructional leadership • Teachers return to DCPS to share learning, strategies, renewed entrepreneurial spirit • All DC Master Teachers participate in a rotational 2-week think tank dedicated to improving the education of students through ideas and innovation • Designed to accelerate the successful development of classrooms through an array of support resources and services Effective Mechanism for Selecting Top-Performing Teachers Attractive Professional and Career Development Programs CV Screen / Assessment Tests Interviews Group Work / Monitoring Recruitment by school • Check suitability for teaching: • - Interviews look for motivation to teach, motivation to learn, communication skills, and emotional intelligence • - Conducted by a panel of senior teachers and teacher leaders • - Include practical tests or case scenarios to test how applicant handle specific situations • Check for minimum qualification: • - Applicants should be in the top 20% of their cohort • - Applicants have 2-4 years teaching experience • - Applicants have completed relevant school and university education • Check overall academic ability and literacy: • - Tests evaluate the ability to process information, think critically, and synthesis data • - Applicants must have a high level of literacy • Check attitude, aptitude, and personality: • - Group exercises and teaching demonstrations test communications and interpersonal skills • - Teachers are monitored during their initial teacher training • - Small number of candidates who do not demonstrate the required standards are removed from the course • Candidates are recruited by individual schools: • - Define recruiting needs for vacant positions • - Match schools with candidates to find the right culture / fit • Job offers made by superintendent: • - Personal involvement of superintendent sends an important message to the district and staff • - Hiring the best teachers is top priority The DC Master Teacher Corps will be marketed as the most exclusive teacher training program in the country, which will attract the nation’s top-performing teachers
Recruit: DC Teacher Prep Academy Invigorating and Engaging Curriculum Career Track • State funded three-year program, grades 10-12, structured as a school-within-a-school • Integrated, interdisciplinary program combines academic and occupational courses on teaching • Connect school-based and work-based learning • Partner with schools, local community, and career mentors • Provide students with hands-on experience as Apprentice Teachers in local DCPS schools Results • Students learn how to navigate and connect with their community • Students gain special skills that make them more desirable in the college and job marketplace • Mentors help students make real world connections from lessons learned in the classroom • 90% of academy students improve their attendance and grade point average within one year of being in the program The DC Teacher Partnership Academy will cultivate student interests in teaching and establish a pipeline for new teachers
Recruit: DC Teacher Prep Academy • Best Practice – California Partnership Academies • Higher State Test Pass Rate • Higher Graduation Rate • Benefits : • Relatively low set-up and operating costs • To capture the benefits of small-scale schooling within a larger school building • To foster a more personalized student-teacher relationships • Effective teaching for students with similar interests Source: http://www.connectedcalifornia.org/publications/Evidence_CPA_Summary.pdf
DCPS has an opportunity to attract quality new teachers to the District by converting old schools that had been shut down into renovated and subsidized luxury apartments for teachers and their families This teacher-only community would serve to both reward high-performing teachers already teaching in DCPS, as well as attract high-quality teachers to DC A City-Wide Community of Educators Who Share a Passion for Student Achievement Shared Space + Shared Experiences = Recruit: Teacher Community
