Thread by @SvetlikCS

**A THREAD ON IMPROVING TEACHER HIRING PRACTICES**

The hiring process has long been identified for school administrators as their single most critical job duty..

..but, en masse, hiring in education remains woefully antiquated.

Here’s a potential fix..

#iledchat #edchat

1️⃣ Rid the hiring process *completely* of the overwhelmingly fixed mindset-rooted Q&A that plagues it.

There is **zero** research base to associate a teacher “thinking on their toes” in giving “the right” answers to questions on the fly, and their efficacy in the classroom.

2️⃣ Replace the anti-#growthmindset Q&A with a lesson the candidate delivers in front of a hiring panel.

The content/skills to be developed during the lesson should be given to the candidate at least 48 hours in advance of the screening date.

In other words, kill the “gotcha”..

3️⃣ The candidate delivers the lesson at the school-of-hire (to students, as feasible), in witness before the hiring panel.

In many schools, this is nothing revolutionary..

..HOWEVER, what IS lacking in the hiring process is the absence of the follow-up AFTER the lesson..

4️⃣ After the candidate delivers the lesson, give the candidate ~30 minutes in isolation to prepare a reflection on the lesson they just delivered.

The reflection should address the same fundamental aspects of lesson delivery one would expect in any post-observation reflection..

5️⃣ The candidate is then given the opportunity to share their reflection before the hiring panel.

Questions to the candidate on the reflection should, again, reflect similar questions to those the candidate would expect to be asked in a post-observation evaluative conference..

6️⃣ While there is zero research base correlating conventional interview-style “do-or-die” Q&A & a teacher’s instructional efficacy..

.. there IS plenty of research (and common sense) to support a correlation b/t quality of a teacher’s reflective practice & capacity for growth..

7️⃣ Any ancillary Q&A associated with screening a prospective candidate for hire should follow, but should correspondingly be treated as such: ancillary.

The greatest weight -BY FAR- in screening a candidate for a teaching position should be placed in the candidate’s reflection..

8️⃣ While not impossible, shifting the conventional/contemporary hiring process toward genuine reflection on instruction would be a major change for most schools..

9️⃣ ..and, after way too many years & far too much $$ devoted to #edreform & #edresearch bearing negligible fruit, we know **true, sustained** change is difficult in schooling..

..not impossible, but difficult, to be certain.

(Closing to follow)

🔟 But, for the bazillion books out there claiming to “transform” education, this one shift in the hiring process would comport with so much of what these books strive to achieve.

It would also facilitate an authentic increase in #DiversityandInclusion among whom is hired.

/fin