According to elementary school teacher Barry Said for ASCD'S Smartblogs, summer should be used as a time to consider professional development in the hiring process of new teachers to create better schools.

"[W]hen we hire someone for their first role in education, we should look at their character first, and their characteristics second. We should visualize where the person being hired adds value to our organization, how that person can support the initiatives we currently have in play, or how their skill set fits the direction we have for our organization," he said.

Saide suggests one of the best ways to better develop the hiring process is by, as an interviewer, ensuring to fully understand and live up to the standards through which holding the interviewee.

"We should begin by interviewing ourselves and asking: Are we holding ourselves accountable to the answers we’re expecting of candidates? Are we measuring up to the mission and vision of the district? Do we even understand and feel part of the mission and vision of our larger organization?"

By doing so, Saide says the interviewer will better understand the basic needs of the school and therefore have a better idea of what to look for in the hiring process versus merely ideals.

Next, Saide suggests that interviewers spend more time looking for a mastery of skills. "The closest thing we have to a performance task in the hiring process is a writing sample or demo lesson. Writing a response to a question or statement does not accurately measure true mastery of what’s being judged," he said.

Instead, he wonders what the results would be if

a candidate has 30 minutes to develop a basic framework and outline to lead professional development on her passion-based project. The candidate pitches their idea, the validity for it, how to implement it on a small scale and the potential positive long-term effects. Wouldn’t a window into the soul of a potential new hire, how they view themselves adding to our organization, and having them create their own PD plan to accomplish that, be the best possible indicator of whether someone is a best fit?

To read more about Saide's insight on professional development in the hiring process, read here and comment your thoughts below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

06/03/2015