Having Trouble Finding Teachers? Want to Know What to Do?

Are you having trouble finding teachers? Are you trying every gimmick you can think of to try and recruit teachers to work for your district and having no luck? Maybe you should try this strategy.

It worked for my district and maybe it will work for yours.

Before we jump into what you can do, here's some things you need to know. I became a superintendent of a K12 district about 10 years ago. What you may not realize is that every single problem you are facing right now, I faced back then. That's right, every problem and issue you are dealing with, I had to deal with on my own over a decade ago.

That's why when I see people post on social media about the problems they have to work with, I honestly don't know what to say other than, "Yes, I already solved that issue."

So let's get on the same page. You are dealing with a teacher shortage, that's what I faced 10 years ago. You are dealing with ramped up student misbehavior, that's what I dealt with 10 years ago. You are dealing with low student engagement, again, 10 years ago. Every single problem or issue you are facing right now, I dealt with a decade ago.

Luckily for you--I solved those problems, so you don't need to deal with them for as long as I did and it won't be as difficult for you.

This article will address the Teacher Recruitment Problem. Are you ready?

Do Teachers Want to Work For Your District or Somewhere Else?

Would you like teachers to see your district as the "go-to" district? Would you like to receive resumes from teachers, even when you don't place ads looking for teachers? And would you like the teachers in your district to appreciate your leadership and what your district does for them?

If you answered YES to all of those questions, then play close attention. What I'm about to reveal to you is how I changed my district from being the last place a teacher wanted to work, into the first choice for teachers.

I want to be real with you. When I first took over as superintendent, it was not fun for the teachers working in my district. The pay was lower than other schools. The working conditions were pretty bad and the students were verbally and physically aggressive on a daily basis. A decade ago, your district didn't have these problems. Your teachers made decent money, they had decent classrooms and the students were docile compared to mine.

But times have changed. Now your teachers must deal with the same issues my teachers were faced with a decade ago. What has happened is the problems we faced have caught up to you. In reality, you are ten years behind the curve. But that's good news if you listen to my advice.

A decade ago, the only approved school solution was to follow the traditional Professional Development playbook So that's what I did. I booked several nationally recognized speakers and followed the conventional playbook. I did what any new superintendent would do. I wanted to do my best for my staff, and I didn't want to "rock the boat."

I found out the hard way, following the traditional PD playbook doesn't work. Maybe you are starting to realize that as well.

Turn Your District into a Recruiting Machine

If you want to turn your district into a recruiting machine. That means, you want to attract the top new teachers in your area. And you want to receive resumes even when you don't post a job.

If you want both things to happen then pay close attention.

What turned things around for my district and my recruiting efforts was developing the Teacher Development Program. What you need to know is that before this program, it was really difficult to recruit new teachers. You may or may not know this, but teachers talk. And the word on the street was that working in my K12 district was not the place to hang your hat.

If I was going to turn things around, I needed to increase the number of resumes I could look at. And following the old PD playbook was not going to help me do that. Are you coming to the same conclusion for your district as well?

What the Teacher Development Program does is change the conversation. Instead of teachers avoiding your district, they are searching for your district. That's why the top new teacher talent from colleges all sent their resumes to my program. That's also why if an experienced teacher wanted to leave their district, I was their first choice. The Teacher Development Program solved my recruiting problems virtually overnight.

But it didn't happen overnight. Here's what you need to know. The Teacher Development Program is a 2-year teacher prep and training program. It works because it provides teachers with one thing they love the most--to learn.

Whether you realize this or not, teachers love to learn. The reason that may not seem obvious anymore is because teachers are stretched too thin and too overwhelmed to worry about what they want to learn next. If your teachers are working more than 40 hours a week on a consistent basis, you are grinding the fun out of work for your teachers.

What is the Teacher Development Program?

When I implemented the Teacher Development Program, the conversation about my K12 district changed two years later, when the first cohort of teachers finished. Instead of teachers telling other teachers to avoid my district, they were telling teachers about how much they learned while working in my K12 program.

The biggest compliment you will ever get from a teacher is that they learned something from you. In teacher speak--that's called "respect."

What makes the Teacher Development Program more effective than the traditional PD playbook is that it combines three levels of mentoring support with direct teacher coaching. This is a very important aspect to understand. Most districts provide novice teachers a teacher-mentor for the first year of teaching. If you think that's good enough, then you are not LISTENING to teachers.

The truth is it's nowhere near enough support. And that's not what teachers want. The Teacher Development Program works in part, because it listens to what teachers NEED and doesn't follow the same old, tired playbook. It's time to retire the PD playbook.

As I stated, there are three levels of mentoring. First there is the teacher-mentor, which you are familiar with, but there is also a peer mentor group and also an administtrative-mentor. All three layers help give the teacher the amount of support they need, in order to learn how to become a true expert in the classroom.

But the Teacher Development Program doesn't stop there. It goes one step farther than traditional PD ever could. What separates the Teacher Development Program from anything you could offer teachers is that it focuses all of its training on the individual teacher. Most of you are familiar with the research that states student-centered classrooms are better than teacher-centered classrooms. If that's the case, then take a look at the PD you offer?

Is your PD student-centered or teacher-centered? And remember that the student in the PD scenario is the teacher. The truth is that PD is a one-size fits all model because it's not student-centered. The Teacher Development Program takes the opposite approach. Inside this 2-year program, teachers learn how to improve their in-classroom performance. And it doesn't matter how many years of service they have.

For example, a novice teacher would start the program at their novice level and in two years walk out an expert in the classroom. For a more experienced teacher, they would start at their level of knowledge and then learn how to improve their teaching practice and make more connections, so they were a true expert in the classroom.

Here's what you need to ask yourself. Can every single teacher in your school scope and sequence 40 weeks of lesson plans in 30 days? And if you are wondering why they should be able to do that, the answer is that scope and sequencing is the key to boosting student achievement. And that's your goal right?

If you want your district to become a teacher recruiting machine, you need to show teachers how to do everything at a higher level of expertise, from lesson planning, to teaching their classes, to dealing with student issues to assessing student learning. If you want teachers to rave about your district to other teachers, then you need to teach them how to be expert teachers.

3 Reasons to Use the Teacher Development Program

Doesn't the Teacher Development Program sound great? But I know you will have some hurdles to jump if you want to implement the program. Hurdles like parents, the community and the school board. Everyone needs to sign off and approve this decision.

I've been there, so I know. So here are three reasons you can use to explain why this program is the right move for your district.

Reason One

The first reason to implement the Teacher Development Program is the benefit it will bring to student outcomes. Do you want to boost student achievement? If you know who Dr. Robert Marzano is then you know his research proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that teacher performance is the most direct way to boost student achievement.

But that's only half the story. The other great benefit is often overlooked. Would you like your parents and community to support your district? Do you want them to thank you, not criticize everything you do? The one thing that parents want is for their kids to go to school and learn. The last thing they want are problems. If you keep following the old PD playbook, you won't reduce student misbehavior, which means more detentions and suspensions for students.

If you want a more positive relationship with parents, stop punishing their kids. If you use the Teacher Development Program that can become a reality for you.

Reason Two

The second reason to use the Teacher Development Program is that it will pay for itself over time. Let me show you an example.

Have you ever given a teacher a PIP (Professional Improvement Plan)? If you have, then you know this is a time intensive proposition. Unfortunately, PIPs are necessary when you have teachers that underperform so badly that you need to supervise and monitor them on a consistent basis. PIPs cost your district thousands of dollars per year. Now imagine you have several teachers on PIPs at the same time. That can actually add up to tens of thousands of dollars of district money and resources that could be spent in other areas.

Not to mention, if your teachers are underperforming in general, you may need to hire an extra supervisor. That costs your district $100,000 a year in salary and benefits. What if you didn't need that extra supervisor? What if you didn't need to spend time on PIPs?

What could you do with those extra funds?

Reason Three

The third reason to use the Teacher Development Program is because it's the right thing to do. You may not believe this, but everyone in America likes to do the right thing. As we enter into the Holiday Season, we get to see more examples of how Americans prefer to live.

One of the problems facing our nation is that no one seems to do the right thing, which forces other people to react negatively. It becomes a self-fulling cycle. As the leader of a school district, you have the opportunity to lead by example. Do the right thing for your teachers and they will become better teachers and do right for your students.

Isn't that the district you want to lead? Don't you want to be proud of your teachers for always putting your students first?

The longer you hang on to that old PD playbook, the farther you get from living that reality. Teachers need more than the old PD can provide. Hopefully you can see that now.

What's the Next Steps?

At this point, you know enough about the Teacher Development Program to determine if you want to ask more questions and take the next step. This is just one of the big picture solutions that I used in my K12 district.

This program works better than you can imagine. For example, the teachers that completed the program were so valuable and coveted that it created a challenge for me to retain them. Every year I had to compete with local public and charter schools who tried to recruit and poach my staff. One public school district offered one of my teachers $100,000 to lure them away.

If you have never heard about me or this solution that's only because you aren't from the North New Jersey area. Because word spread like wildfire in my area. In fact, the NJ Joint Legislative Committee on the Public Schools invited me to provide expert testimony in 2017. And I received several recommendations from high ranking education officials to join the NJ Governor's Task Force on the Public Schools.

If you're intrigued, send me a DM. I'd love to discuss this groundbreaking teacher prep/training program with you.