Recruiting Math and Science Teachers in Urban Areas

1. Recruiting Math and Science Teachers in Urban Areas Strategies and Results National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Issue Forum May 2006

2. About The New Teacher Project • The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is a national non-profit organization, founded in 1997. • Our clients are school districts, state departments of education, colleges and universities, and other educational entities. • TNTP partners with its clients to: • Increase the number of outstanding individuals who become public school teachers; and • Create environments for all educators that maximize their impact on student achievement. • Since 1997, TNTP has attracted and prepared over 20,000 new, high-quality teachers and launched more than 40 programs in 22 states. • Among others, TNTP’s clients include cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Memphis, New York and Washington, DC; and states such as Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and Virginia.

3. How do you recruit and hire more math and science teachers in urban areas?  Establish multiple sources for teacher candidates Attract the most applicants into your applicant pool through aggressive recruitment strategies and tracking Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent customer service, early hiring and cultivation Expand your pool of eligible applicants   

4.  Establish multiple sources for teacher candidates

5. NYC Teaching Fellows Results • NYCTF receives an average of 16,000 applications each year • There are more Fellows in NYC than there are teachers in Boston, San Francisco, or Milwaukee • If NYC Teaching Fellows were a school system unto themselves, there would be enough of them to staff the 24th largest district in America • 23% of all math teachers in the district are Fellows • Of the 1,785 participants in the 2005 cohort, approximately 92 percent were eligible to teach high-need subject areas There are more than NYC TEACHING FELLOWS 7,000 Teaching Fellows currently teaching in NYC alone

6.  Attract the most applicants into your applicant pool through aggressive recruitment strategies and tracking Sample: Tracking Sources of High-Need Applicants

7.  Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent customer service, early hiring and cultivation Online application • Applicant tools: • Status viewer • Info session scheduler • Interview day scheduler • Forms and resources Clear program information

8.  Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent customer service, early hiring and cultivation (cont’d) • What is “cultivation?” • High-quality, meaningful, and targeted contact with teacher candidates • Helps ensure that candidates complete the application process despite other competing districts or any difficulties • Who do you target? • Prospective candidates who have requested more information • Candidates in the application process • Candidates who have been accepted but who have not yet committed • Any prospective teacher for critical shortage subject areas. • We have found that most urban districts do not have problems attracting applicants, their problems are with keeping applicants. • Experience shows that strategic, prioritized cultivation of interested contacts helps to increase the number of them who remain in the process and begin teaching. • Our research has shown that it is often the highest-quality candidates who respond to continual, active encouragement to remain in the process without a firm commitment or placement offer

9. Candidate interest Candidate experience Transcript review Immersion training Testing  Expand the pool of eligible applicants The New Teacher Project’s Math Immersion Program Candidate Pathway • Math Immersion increases the number of math teachers entering the New York City Public School System through NYCTF. • Candidates accepted to the Math Immersion Program must have taken and passed an under-graduate level calculus course with a B- or better. • Candidates participate in a two week intensive math refresher in addition to seven weeks of pre-service training that focuses on content and pedagogy. • At the end of a two week math refresher, candidates have an opportunity to switch to another content area if they are not comfortable with math. • All candidates must pass a math content exam as required by New York State before entering the classroom.

10. 500% 95% 390  Expand the pool of eligible applicants (cont’d) No significant difference in Fellow satisfaction, principal satisfaction, or retention between those teachers placed in math positions through the immersion program and those who were math majors. Of two recent value-added student achievement studies, one found that Teaching Fellows who teach math at the middle school level show statistically significanthigher student gains by their third year in the classroom than traditionally certified teachers. The second found that Teaching Fellows are equal to traditionally certified teachers by year three. Math Immersion Program Results Math Immersion increased the number of math teachers placed through NYCTF by more than 500% each year. 95% of candidates each of the last two years have passed the state certification exam in math. In September 2005, NYCTF placed 390 new math teachers in New York City Public Schools. Just 34 of those math teachers were math majors.