OWL536 Staff Hiring Process – Assignment Solution
Staff Hiring Process
One of the most important responsibilities a principal has is to hire the very best staff to educate and care for students. Reflecting upon the skills of teachers needed in order to determine teaching assignments is essential practice.
Review either the “Antelope High School Hiring Scenario†or the “Antelope Elementary School Hiring Scenario†to inform the assignment.
In 825-words, provide short answers to the following questions regarding how you would fill the remaining positions:
- Based on the descriptions of the positions and leadership roles that need to be filled, what 3-4 qualities are you looking for in a candidate? Provide a rationale.
LOVE of children, Passion for teaching with Engaging desire for student success, Compassionate/Caring Personality, Team Player/collaboration/Staff Hiring Process
- Who will sit on the interview committee? Will you use the same interview team for all positions? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.
Principal, Assistant principal, Learning Coach, Grade-Level Lead Teacher (which will change depending on the hiring position) I always want my assistant and Learning coach on interviews because I want their perspective.
- Are there positions you will try to fill prior to others? Why or why not? My highest priority is Special Education because we have a shortage of those teachers. Kindergarten and 1st grade are the first to teach reading and math which scores are valued by the district because of
- Identify 4-5 questions you plan to use in the interview. Staff Hiring Process Will you include any performance or behavior focused questions? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.
   1. Professional Background:  Tell us about your educational and work experience. Â
- Classroom Management: What specifically would you do to establish effective classroom management within the first few weeks of school?
- Collaboration: What is your philosophy on collaboration? What experience do you have working on a collaborative team? How do you see yourself contributing to your team in weekly one-hour collaboration sessions? What makes you a good team member?Â
- Individualization/Differentiation: How would you meet the instructional needs of a child who does not speak English or deals with anxiety?Â
- What unique knowledge, skills, and dispositions would you bring to our team? Â
- What questions do you have for us?Â
- On a scale of 1-10 how interested are you in becoming part of our Northridge Elementary family?
- Identify 3-4 legalities you will have to take into account when completing the hiring process. How will these legalities affect your decision-making? Staff Hiring Process Describe actions you might take to address these issues.
- How will your decisions align with the Christian values of promoting human flourishing, compassion, and concern for the common good?
(I attend a Christian university, so we must be careful with this answer and give them what they want to hear). All schools want to hire the most compassionate teachers who care about and focus on student-centered learning. We want team players who can collaborate and share lesson plans and RTI data for the common good of the school. We want to support district goals and vision.
Support your findings with 3-5 scholarly resources:
Recruiting Great Teachers Starts With Eliminating the Status Quo,†by Bertram, from Huffpost (2015).
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/vince-bertram/recruiting-great-teachers_b_6980158.html
Sprankles, W., & Backman, K. (2017). Recruiting a better teacher: UNEXPECTED CANDIDATE QUALITIES. Leadership, 46(3), 36–38. Staff Hiring Process (In this article, the author discusses an importance of recruiting quality teacher by mentioning the No-Nonsense Nurturer philosophy of the classroom transformation organization CT3)
D’Orio, W. (2015). The Science of Hiring. Scholastic Administrator, 14(2), 32–35. (The article focuses on hiring the correct teachers. It states that a good teacher plays an important role in the overall achievement of students and mentions that hiring a wrong teacher can adversely impact the finances and budget of the schools. It states that the Grade point average (GPA) of teachers should not be given sole importance while hiring)
Milgrom-Elcott, T. (2016). Three Ways to Recruit and Train More Teachers. Tech Directions, 76(3), 34–35. (The article presents suggestions to recruit and train more teachers in STEM education. Staff Hiring Process Topics discussed include need to bolster STEM education for youngest learners by creating hands-on experiences that encourage student APA Style Guide, RUBRIC
(15) Candidate Qualities: Based on the descriptions of the positions and the leadership roles, rationale substantially provides 3-4 qualities to look for in a candidate.
(15) Interview Committee: Explanation comprehensively describes who will sit on the interview committee, whether or not the same interview team will sit for all positions, and why or why not.
(10) Other Positions: Explanation specifically describes why positions will or will not try to be filled prior to others.
(15) Interview Questions Explanation insightfully identifies 4-5 questions planned to be used in the interview as well as a justification why any performance or behavior focused questions would be used.
(15) Legalities: Staff Hiring Process Explanation thoroughly identifies 3-4 legalities to take into account when completing the hiring process as well as how those legalities affect decision-making.
(10) Christian Values: Explanation creatively describes how decisions align with the Christian values of promoting human flourishing, compassion, and concern for the common good.
(20) Documentation of Sources
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Antelope Elementary School Current Staff List
You are the principal of Antelope K-8 Elementary, the STEM magnet for your district. It has 60% open enrollment, and some parents seem to believe it is a private school. Antelope Elementary prides itself on its project-based curriculum with STEM woven throughout and having the highest test scores in the 20-school district. It is February and the district has just communicated to you the allocation of three teachers per grade level.
Your task for Antelope Elementary is to devise a strategy for hiring certified staff to fill your allocation. Take into account the descriptions of the entire staff and the current PLC makeups in the table below. Teachers who are leaving Antelope Elementary at the end of the school year are shaded. Describe your ideal candidate for each position and explain what your strategy for hiring will be. Feel free to use the elementary OR high school staff list.
|                                                                    Kindergarten                                                   Ideal Candidate | ||
| Bobbie New | Bobbie is a third-year teacher who works well independently, but struggles working in a team setting. She is very dedicated to her students’ success. She is praised for communicating with her student’s families with ease. | |
| Tracy Cobbler | Tracy is a veteran teacher with 20 years of experience in the classroom. She recently transferred from another school and is the team lead. She struggles with the technology staff uses daily, but is willing to ask for help. | |
| Amanda Apple | Amanda is also a third-year teacher. She is excellent at building rapport with her students.
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|                                                                      First Grade                                                  | ||
| Angel Ekko | Angel is a veteran teacher with 15 years of experience. She is a life-long learner and her students consistently achieve the highest Dibels scores in first grade. She is also the team lead and is respected by all staff. | |
| Laura Pope | Laura is a veteran teacher with 20 years of experience. She formerly was the instructional coach at Antelope. If her students earn low summative test scores, she immediately becomes defensive. She is known to argue constantly with the team lead and is generally disliked on campus. Her sister teaches seventh grade science. | |
| Sally Hall | Sally is a third year teacher. She has great high achievement in the classroom, but has a poor attitude. She does not get along with Laura. | |
|                                                                    Second Grade                                              | ||
| Holly Hoon | Holly and Nikki have similar personalities. Both are great at technology integration and science. They have worked together for three years and are friends outside of school. Holly is the lead, with 10 years of experience in the classroom, Nikki has 7. | |
| Nikki Doe | ||
| Sally South | Sally is new to the second grade team this year and is a fifth year teacher. She moved from third grade the previous year to be mentored by Holly and Nikki. You are not seeing much improvement in her teaching performance, and her team members are becoming frustrated. Staff Hiring Process | |
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                                                                   Third Grade                                                          |
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| Kim Wallace | Kim is a strong teacher who has just returned from teaching abroad. She sponsors the STEM Club and is the lead of the third grade team. She is particularly instructionally strong in the areas of science and math. She has had some recent personal troubles that have had an effect on her promptness. | |
| Siri Stills | Siri is new to the team and is a third-year teacher. She has a strong partnership with Kim and is genuinely excited to do the best for her students. It has been noted that her excitement has prevented her from keeping to the assigned academic schedule from time to time. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Mika Pepper | Mika was hired this year. She struggles with classroom management and has missed a day of school per week this year. | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
                                                                Fourth Grade                                                                |
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| Dede Miller | Dede was previously the fourth grade team lead, but asked to be relieved of the title this year. She is very willing to do what is asked, but rubs some the wrong way with her brash attitude. | |
| Pablo Sanchez | Pablo is a second-year teacher. He is like a sponge and implements strategies to meet the specific needs of his students. His students achieved the highest academic performance for the grade last year. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Kim Mighty | Kim sponsors multiple clubs and is a strong teacher. She truly understands STEM concepts, but does not collaborate well with others. She is the team lead. | |
|                                                                     Fifth Grade                                                     | ||
| Sue Lauder | Sue is the best STEM teacher on campus. She integrates technology flawlessly and is always willing to help others. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Jacque Palm | Jacque has been at Antelope since the school opened and has great rapport with students as well as parents. When staff members want answers, they go to her. She does struggle with imbedding STEM curriculum throughout the subjects. | |
| Cody Woo | Cody had the best English scores in the district this year. He is the PLC lead and is a servant leader. He has just been offered a job at the high school where his daughter attends. Staff Hiring Process | |
|                                                                     Sixth Grade                                                   | ||
| Claudia Sal | Claudia is one of the best math teachers on campus. She is engaged with the community, but is known to lose her patience at times. Her temper has led fellow teachers to describe her as too aggressive and even as a bully. She is the sixth grade team lead. | |
| Justin Hope | Justin is new to the sixth grade team. He teaches science and incorporates hands-on learning every day. He is easy going and adaptive. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Helen Back | Helen is a great teacher and is particularly strong in ELA. She is known as the cheerleader of the team and has confided in you that Claudia’s temper is hard to combat. | |
|                                                                   Seventh Grade                                                          | ||
| Caren Pope | Caren is Laura Pope’s sister. She is a dynamic teacher and implements the school’s STEM vision in an innovative way. She constantly does hands-on science and breaks math down with skill. She is a favorite of many parents. She is extremely loyal to her sister and defends her always. Caren is the team lead for the seventh grade. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Ellen Garcia | Ellen is an excellent social studies teacher and has been at Antelope for two years. She is known for her stubbornness and has high expectations for her students. She will be out this year frequently due to health issues. | |
| Jose Ruiz | Jose is the math teacher. He completes all tasks asked of him, but with little confidence. Students enjoy his class. He has not developed an integrated approach for math with the STEM initiative. | |
|                                                                    Eighth Grade                                                     | ||
| Marco Garcia | Marco is a student favorite who would do anything for the school. He teaches English and social studies. He often listens to advice on how to become stronger instructionally, but seldom uses these practices in the classroom. He is the team lead. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Kara Lara | Kara is a math teacher, who does not have high expectations for her students. She is very dependent on Jen. Kara has the lowest math scores in the school. She plans to retire either next year or the year after. | |
| Jen DeMarco | Jen is the team lead and has been for years. She is a great teacher, but is easily distracted. It is widely known that she does not like you. | |
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SPED (Elementary)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â | ||
| Scott DuBoy | Scott is the special education teacher for grades K-3. He is overwhelmed and struggles to meet the needs of his students. He is on an improvement plan, and will be with Antelope for at least one more year. Staff Hiring Process | |
| Tatum Ole | Tatum teaches students in grades 6-8. She is an excellent mentor to Jill. She is your SPED lead and is a very strong leader, keeping the SPED team positive. She will be moving to New York next year. | |
| Jill Nolan | Jill is a first-year teacher mentored by Tatum. She teaches grades 4-6 and is highly motivated. She has many great instructional days, but needs support in these first years of teaching. Staff Hiring Process | |
NOTE:Â You will need the description of the Antelope school staff for future assignments.
