DCPS Recruitment Strategy

1. A teachers and principals as clients approach to attracting, selecting, cultivating and retaining top teaching talent to drive student achievement in DC Public Schools DCPS Recruitment Strategy NYU – Stern Business School Debra-Ellen Glickstein Catherine Hirschman Vanessa Jackson Cindy Mino

2. Recruitment Strategy • “The quality of a teacher in a classroom is 6 times more impactful than all other factors combined. Six times!” • Joel Klein, Chancellor, NYC Department of Education • February 13, 2009

3. Aim: • To develop a strategy to recruit top teaching talent for DCPS, in order to dramatically improve student achievement outcomes district-wide. This plan will be: • Fiscally sound; • Compatible with multiple Union contract scenarios; and • Seamlessly integrated into the human capital value chain. DCPS Recruitment Strategy • Agenda: • Key challenges • Value proposition to target market segment • Multi-pronged recruitment and retention strategy • Implementation plan and timeline • Budget

4. Recruitment strategy must provide two-pronged value proposition to district: (1) Attracts high-caliber teachers who get great results (e.g. marked gains in their students’ achievement); and (2) Promotes high levels of retention of top teachers, who stay in district, develop, improve and lead over time. Recruitment Strategy Key Challenges Recruit Select Develop Retain RESULTS x LONGEVITY = MAXIMUM HUMAN CAPITAL NPV

5. Barriers to Success: Recruitment Strategy • Insufficient capacity at DCTF/TFA to recruit, on-board/ develop great new teachers • Existing traditional certification programs provide inadequate preparation for successful urban teaching. Anemic pipeline for new rising talent NEW TALENT • Timeline and budgeting timing for recruitment/selection of scarce star veterans is inadequate, driving lack of professional culture in recruitment. • Recruitment/selection process places too little emphasis on screening for performance indicators/predictors of success. • Union contract prohibits performance pay, an incentive to attract top talent among 2-4 year experienced pool. Key Challenges Demand > supply for high-performing, experienced talent within DCPS VETERAN STARS • Lack of professional culture around supporting, rewarding great teaching; under-investing in PD and attractive leadership ladders • Union contract prohibits performance pay >> underinvestment of resources to retain top performers; compensation to far back-loaded to retain star teachers in critical 2-4 year sensitive period. Charters, PG county, affluent suburbs, etc. cherry-picking stars RETENTION

6. Recruitment Strategy Key Challenges Attracting and Retaining Top Talent • Why aren’t high potential teachers coming to DCPS? • Weak relationships with Schools of Education; inconsistent quality of applicants • Top undergraduates picked up by banks and consulting firms • DCPS has stigma, is challenging to teach in • Teaching profession is under-valued • Why aren’t they staying? • Lack of leadership/support from the principal • Top teachers lack a sense of shared goals and values with colleagues; colleagues lack commitment to student achievement • Inadequate training and continued professional development and support • Lack of career pathways, compensation for top performers • Charter and private school hiring timeline begins earlier than DC recruiting

7. Attracting Great People to the District Recruitment Strategy What is the value proposition that our target market seeks? • To be and feel well supported; • To be and feel valued; • To have opportunities for growth and significant leadership opportunities; • To feel that they are part of a successful team in a successful system – both at the school level, as well as in the sense of being part of a larger movement to close the achievement gap; and • To achieve and maintain balance among personal and professional priorities. Value Proposition That’s the value proposition we have to deliver, and we have to do it BETTER than our competitors!

8. Human capital team’s value chain integrates around teachers and principals as clients and students as end users. All decision-making around human capital functions services end goal of ensuring high levels of student achievement. Recruitment Strategy Human Capital Team Value Proposition Teachers/ Principals Students

9. Core Strategies to Deliver Value Proposition: Recruitment Strategy • New structure for recruiting, selecting and placing new hires: • (1) Client-oriented candidate relationship manager team paid for performance • Aligning professional development, compensation, and evaluation around taking back teaching as a profession: • (2) Create tangible value for teachers through strategic partnerships • (3) Performance pay • (4) Significant financial investment in ongoing support and pathway development to grow and retain top performers Multi-pronged Recruitment and Retention Strategy

10. Human Capital Relationship Managers Teacher Recruitment, Selection, Placement and On-boarding Recruitment Strategy • New client-oriented model • HCRM builds strong relationship with portfolio of principals • HCRM provides seamless, high-touch experience to top teacher candidates throughout recruitment, selection, placement and on-boarding process • HCRM is dually accountable to Dep. Chan. of Human Capital and to principals in the portfolio! • HCRM’s compensation driven by portfolio principals’ satisfaction with caliber of candidate yield (1) Human Capital Relationship Management Principals HCRM Students Teachers

11. HCRM Portfolios Structure Recruitment Strategy Each HCRM will be responsible for recruiting, selecting and placing ~ 92 teachers/year. (1) Human Capital Relationship Management

12. (1) Human Capital Relationship Management HCRM’s Relationships with Principals Recruitment Strategy • Communicate regularly with roughly 30 principals to gauge hiring priorities • Assure that only highest-quality candidates occupy principals’ valuable time: • Manage early screening and selection phase including online application review, initial behavioral/culture fit phone interview, and • Observe initial sample lesson, conduct data talk and lesson debrief • Complete rigorous rubric-based evaluation of candidate to provide to principal in advance of principal’s interview of candidate • Co-observes additional sample lesson with principal, debriefs with principal after candidate’s process is complete

13. (1) Human Capital Relationship Management HCRM’s Relationships with Candidates Recruitment Strategy • Culls TeacherTrack database for desirable candidates, evaluates online applications • Reaches out to desirable candidates within 5 days of submission of application • Conducts pre-screening phone interview for culture fit, data-drive, and assessment of candidate’s placement preferences and key priorities • Observes initial sample lesson, conduct data talk and lesson debrief • Completes rigorous rubric-based evaluation of candidate • Assesses potential fit among schools in the HCRM’s portfolio • Coordinates school-based interview opportunities for candidates with principals • Follows up with candidate to help navigate him through acceptance and on-boarding • Arranges candidate dinners, cocktail receptions, etc. among new teacher candidates in clusters, portfolio schools, with mentors with their new teaching team

14. HCRMs’ Ancillary Responsibilities Recruitment Strategy • Attend TFA and DC Fellows Recruitment Events • Develop high-quality recruitment collateral (brochures, video, interactive web site, t-shirts, water bottles, note pads) • Strengthen relationship with target Education Schools • Plan closed target events for in-house referrals • Run referral bonus programs • Organize new candidate sell days (1) Human Capital Relationship Management

15. Bottom line: Recruitment Strategy • HCRMs are relentlessly committed to finding the right person for every classroom; they are compensated commensurate with the level of service they provide principals in this regard. • Hyper-investment of resources in up-front decision-making around recruitment-selection-placement phase for candidates will ensure higher levels of teacher success later. (1) Human Capital Relationship Management Compensation: • Base salary at market rate • Bonus potential up to $20k driven by principal evaluations of candidate quality (after 1 yr.); teacher’s students’ assessment results (after 1 yr, 2, yrs, etc.)

16. Core Strategies to Deliver Value Proposition: Recruitment Strategy • New structure for recruiting, selecting and placing new hires: • (1) Client-oriented candidate relationship manager team paid for performance • Aligning professional development, compensation, and evaluation around taking back teaching as a profession: • (2) Create tangible value for teachers through strategic partnerships • (3) Performance pay • (4) Significant financial investment in ongoing support and pathway development to grow and retain top performers Multi-pronged Recruitment and Retention Strategy

17. Recruitment Strategy • (2) Creating tangible value for teachers through strategic partnerships Create Opportunities for Teachers to Be Recognized and Rewarded • Monthly Breakfasts with prominent DC movers & shakers to reward success • Fourth Friday Nights is teachers night – 20% off at participating restaurants (critical mass of restaurants) • Monthly Speaker Series events from exciting speakers exclusively for teachers. (Speakers might include academics, elected officials, heads of industry) • Discounted Gym Membership (partnership with network of gyms, a la Washington Sports Club) • Free Entry to Museums & Cultural Institutions • Ongoing Teacher discounts at participating stores (partnership with chamber of commerce) • School Open Houses & Cocktail Receptions • Organized outings for teachers & families • Weekly spot dedicated to education on a local public access network • Work with banks to get down payment assistance for teachers who have worked in the system for 5 years. • Teacher of the Month (Media blitz in local papers in school neighborhood around Teacher of the Month; pictures at Subway Stations & Bus Shelters in our school neighborhoods; local stakeholders (ie: leaders of religious institutions, businesses community organizations & parents) invited to Teacher of the Month celebrations; opportunity for Teacher of the Month to be recognized by/dine with prominent DC leader (e.g. Michelle Obama)

18. Recruitment Strategy (3) Performance pay Show Them the Money! • Merit pay would significantly enhance this recruitment plan and would markedly improve retention of quality teachers, minimizing the ongoing need for recruitment of new teachers. • Absent the merit pay provision in Rhee’s proposed contract, our plan is still viable. We have built our plan around the assumption that the contract may be politically untenable. • That said, rigorous and consistent implementation of PPEP review and dismissal of low performers is vital to our recruitment strategy’s success. Aligning our candidate evaluation rubric to the PPEP is of paramount importance. Candidates coming in should be measured against these same metrics. Performance pay should be aligned to these metrics. • Additionally, the district should pursue a policy of financially incenting great veteran teachers to join teams in the most struggling schools and should incent math/science/special education certified teachers with financial reward.

19. Recruitment Strategy (3) Ongoing support and pathway development Modeled after Teacher U in NYC, DC Urban Teaching Academy with provide opportunities professional develop for 2-4 yr teachers. • Selective fellowship opportunities for experienced teachers Barack Obama Fellowship for DC Teaching Excellence Fellowship for high-achieving teachers with at least 2 years experience in DCPS & 5 years overall. The fellowship would provide a $20,000 stipend and 2 years of additional professional development support to 15 teacher each year from a major philanthropic partner. Fellows, in exchange, mentor 2 to 5 new, inexperienced teachers in their school, serving as instructional coaches and mentors. • Teaming teachers strategically within schools Requirement for new teachers (e.g. TFA/DCTF Corp Members) to team with a veteran teacher in their schools for their first year, in order to ensure (1) quality modeling, coaching and evaluation of new hires, and (2) that new teachers receive the support and guidance they require to feel maximally successful during their first few years in the classroom. Urban Teaching Academy that provides rigorous, ongoing training and support

20. Recruitment Strategy Implementation Plan and Timeline

21. Recruitment Strategy Budget Break-Down of Budget-Forward Projected Fall 2009 Hiring Needs

22. Recruitment Strategy Budget Proposed Budget 2009-2010

23. Recruitment Strategy Questions?