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Recruitment and preparation of future educators

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Recruitment and preparation of future educators

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Identifying and preparing school- and system-level leaders

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Identifying and preparing school- and system-level leaders

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Not just hiring, but models of deployment

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Not just hiring, but models of deployment

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Early-career educators, experienced educators, and school and system leadership level

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Early-career educators, experienced educators, and school and system leadership level

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PL- non-cert teachers paired w certs, new teachers that are new w less than 3 years are given monthly training.

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Leadership Development

Challenges need to think about managing

*Teacher shortage from number of expiring principals.

*Time and opportunity for people to come in and be a part of it. So many demands are put on teachers at this time.

*Time factor

*Litchfield - Teacher leader academy. People seeking out the opportunity might not be the people that are ready. Need for shoulder tapping. Leaders that see potential and opportunities in educators that have that potential. Time to support current leaders and future leaders

*Time is a factor and narrow pipeline

Promising practices and interventions

*Litchfield - Future Leaders Academy has been a success. Opportunity for teachers to see themselves as a leader in the district. Would like to make a bigger program with more opportunities. Time and follow through are factors.

Are there times for the University to support?

*Higley - If you know there are people who want to go through leadership programs or coghorts. Higley leadership program focuses on leadership, not just school administrators. Provides an opportunity for more people to step into leadership roles and has been a success.

*Litchfield - Find opportunities to recommend school administrators to rise in roles that are disconnected from school administration but would be a strong fit.

*Higley - Retention rate for Higley leadership program is 85%!

*What led to that rate? People gain insight into the district and the culture. Get a larger perspective.

*Topics of the Higley leadership program vary from week to week. Mentorship component is also part of the leadership program.

*Higley leadership gets an opportunity to bring people from across the district together that do not normally get to interact.

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We partner with every university not just ASU. Our own EPP program is free to our employees. It is called the "Bridge Program."

We also do a good job with aspiring principals but need to do more with succession planning.

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On third finance director in 5 years. For teachers under 3 years we have teacher mentors and instructional coaches.

Tier 1 instructional practices are not quite what we need them - so spend a lot going back to basics. New teachers not experienced with classroom, Trying to put support in place so they want to stay in the classroom.

Can we afford to allow people to come in so we can train them and then they leave (esp finance) Last year had an influx of int teachers. Classroom management was an area of concern, How do we support cultural differences

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Typical needs. Special Education comes top of mind. We are trying to ensure that we can fill positions in house without needing to spend money on contractors. We offer stipends to pay SPED teachers extra money but it's not enough to attract all that we need. Staffing and recruiting needs in SPecial Ed. is being looked at closely now for next year.

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Gears model- how teams work togethers to review data, new teachers work w master teachers, challenge- what are pathways for other areas such as finance, other admin positions. Avondale is 6th largest employer in sw valley. Openings for directors of technology and biz services, key roles that we want to ensure that they have opportunities. People can go outside of k-12 to earn more $, Grow your own.

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How do we get ahead of the recruitment? Need a larger pool of candidates to choose. Graduates seem to already have jobs lined up from their student teaching.

Union-far from a ASU campuses. Need something like iTeach. How can we have closer proximity?

Special areas are needed too (PE, band, etc.) Goes beyond the classroom-need health office, IT, etc. (How can we get access to the rest of the university for some of these areas? Education focus. Partnerships to dual major to get certification)

Internships in schools-accounting, counseling, communications, marketing, etc.

Build pipeline earlier in high school for those who have passion for education.

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For Special Ed. and specialized positions we are having to pay our contractors too much money (six figures). Need policies to cap what districts have to pay.

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Principals lead PL on what instructional coaches are doing. Making sure PD is aligned across the classroom.

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88% retention in the district. A lot of support systems - better classroom sizes, counselors, specialists, social workers, gifted, EL teachers, etc at every school.

Decreased enrollment will lead to cuts in the future and the current budget is unsustainable.

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Emergency certified teachers on academic achievement. Once they come in how we can help them be effective in their role. Tenure in emergency cert can range from 1-4 years. Tracking those paths can be difficult.

Retention rates are 80-87%.

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Challenges to staffing

*Higley - One of the areas connected to classified employees is career trajectory. Is there a process within for a person to see themself doing something else. How can the district be intentional about seeing opportunities.

*Higley - District has had rapid growth, and people cannot live in the district they work in. Need to be mindful of where the workforce is at.

*Litchfield - Anything to do with special education. Highest contract use. Middle school teachers are also the toughest teachers to retain. High Schools are accepting middle school certified teachers causing challenges. K-5 retention - 85%. 6-8 retention - 60%. All schools are competing to serve their kids. Tried to stipend to draw teachers to Title 1 schools, but it was not an impact.

*Higley - Middle school is a challenge to staff in general. A lot of small duties that can be a challenge in keeping teachers at the middle school level.

Any reasons that a teacher who loves middle school that is why they love it? Any way for the college to support?

*Higley - Culture is a major part. Principal who was a founding teacher works hard to establish a positive culture. Collegiality at the middle school level is very important. Less compartmentalized than high school. Size matters as well regarding collegiality.

*Litchfield - Principal at middle school for 14 years with high retention. Belonging is important. Acknowledging and celebrating is critical.

Middle school being two years is tough, but it is such a critical time.

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Proud to hire from the community as much as possible - grow your own.

Administered a thorough survey. Indicated staff need more support/tools with behavior challenges. Implemented a new program (contracted with Solution Tree for Tier 1 support) and new monthly early release for PD. Data-informed and site-based trainings. Honoring the educators' work so teachers feel more supported.

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Culture has changed and not so much loyalty. People are always looking at the greener grass. Varies from monetary or others. Some people leave to get more money but come back.

Different generations - 5 generations in the same organization. What makes one person stay wont work for other generations.

Ability to speak the language that people are speaking.

Leaders need more training on how to speak to other generations. Trying new things like short videos. Tiered messaging. Principals are usually pretty good but not familiar with different cultures. How do we offer incentives other than compensation - what do people like.

Long term subs/emergency cert are usually second career.

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Building a resilient teacher pipeline-student behavior challenges cause them to leave, build community and family relationships, not interested in actually working (work ethic), Not curious about how to get better. How to manage all of their priorities in life?

More accelerated pathways

Can't get leaders because there isn't enough resilience to problem solve.

Learning in programs need to mimic what they will do in classrooms. (Concern about online)

How do we get "hard working" into education?

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Our biggest need is for central office staff even more so than future principals. District office administration, we have needs here.

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For us making the jump from principal to district office is hard. The biggest need is on the operational side not so much the instructional side. Filling district office operational leadership is more difficult than for instructional leadership. School finance is perhaps the most difficult position to fill for school districts.

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How do we get the right people? Get better at keeping the right people. Through work ethic? Evaluation? Identify who is there for our kids.

Need coaches and good leaders to support teachers to get better. And, be willing to have hard conversations.

Build community with curated experiences among different colleges. Education focused-human resources, accounting, etc. (Paired experience with education-business and education)

Add learning about human resources and understanding retirement. Looking to the future.

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Like CTE programs - usually one school has the program.

Talk about pipeline throughout. People in the community came back for a reason. Start talking about it throughout.

Many intern teachers want to go into the schools they were taught in.

How do work with universities to do that?

Avondale has a cohort that shares info w paraprofessionals. Might not be the time currently but will look at certification down the road. ASU, NAU, other certs.

Any roles that are harder to fill? Special ed and speech pathologist. Outside services - use contractors because they don't have in -house support.

Paying contractors is expensive- outside dont have the same certification standards.

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Currently projecting student enrollment for the next school year and asking educators about their preferences for placement. Preparing for hiring season. Working on equitable staffing across campuses in terms of the needs of each school. Expecting a slight increase (~100 students) in growth.

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Communication, appropriate culture. Have lots of long timers and many 3 years - but not a lot of in between generations of educators.

Not money that keeps people - Wilson pays well.

Looking at doing stay interviews. Most people want to stay educators not move to asst or principal.

How supportive is my leadership team - my personal development. Individual support, what does that look like.

Helpful to have strong network of support around the school. For example trauma or emergencies in the community - having other entities to have wrap around support.

Everyone that works in school communities wants to help - they are helpers. But it s hard for them when they can help such as medical needs, food in the home, etc,

Wilson has foodbank in community.

Avondale started recruiting and retention community - allow a lot of individuals w different levels participate and offer different perspective. Looking for pay (not usually most important), the connection w their leaders, support. Also a referral program - if they are hired they get a referral compensation. Good people know good people. Looking at doing a compensation study - how do we compare within the market and are our roles and responsibilities aligned.

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Free Swim

*Litchfield – Accepted by the state to create own pipeline. Take individuals with a bachelors and create a pipeline. Filling a need, but not sure how long it will be around. Very interested in getting classified staff in that pipeline. Can the district hold onto that somehow to create more access, especially when college is scary to them. Looked at collaboration with Grand Canyon University

Are there things exploring regarding new learning models that are different than the traditional learning experience students are having?

*Litchfield – Some of the reimagine has been a solution to a problem. Special education program where the pay rate is increased of a lead teacher, where she does not have a caseload but supports two other teachers. Additional program for Spanish online. Virtually have a teacher broadcast in other classrooms while instructional assistants.

*Higley – If there is a problem that comes up they have to find a solution.

*Higley – How do we continue to promote college going when there is a such a push to career? That is the fight that districts are currently dealing with. Needs to be a blend between the two. Is there a workforce development through the university?

*Litchfield – Even within industry, need to be educated to be a leader.

*Litchfield – Have partnered with ASU. K-5 campus with accelerated pathways. Partnered with ASU to offer next two levels of math digitally. Partner with ASU to put together college classes where they get to take a college class while sitting in a middle school class.

*Higley – How could ASU support the political noise that districts are feeling now?

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Job sharing by retirees - working part time.

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Resiliency problems-Difficult conversations. Not knowing how to have a difficult conversations.

Need balance between being an instructional leader and organizational leader. Need systems thinking.

Organization is not taught anymore-how do we organize systems-parking lot, student pick up? Need to really know how the whole system works. More practice with the whole system. How do we manage the cleaning staff, etc.?

Need more case studies. Practical experiences to connect.

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Our district has realized it has been top-down. Our principals need help being instructional leaders and are now setting up their owns schools PL plans. Some have had to adjust but overall has been good. A big need/focus is on helping teachers with managing behaviors. Our approach now is let top down and more site directed.

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Early release Wednesdays 3 of the 4 are site based and one is district wide. Focus on essential standards and also curriculum training for new curriculum as we roll it out. *MTSS is a focus for next year.

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We have a strong PD/PL Director. For classified employees we don't do much (almost non-esistant)

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Make sure we all understand we are in this together - how can we help others. At 5th grade educator gets departmentalized (math teacher, etc).

Do they teaming? does staffing models change from year to year. It changes each year based on their strengths and what it fits for the team. Allows us to be more responsive.

Leaders like having the flexibility to how they want it to operate. The leaders do well. Know their educators and their strengths - look at grade rubrics.

Best practice would be to have more inclusion and push in w special ed - but its harder w high level planning its a barrier. Some of our most needs students are being educated by least prepared.

Team teaching - dont know how, hard for people to make change or relinquish control. what are other professional roles that are needed - sometimes paras know more than new educators.

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We do a lot for our clsssified staff, involve them in all the PD/PL. Department leads are required to identify their dept.'s PL needs and report back to the district. Our's is very much in house PL, not sending people out or contracting. We have used Solution Tree to meet some of our needs (behavior training).

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Trying to collaborate with Glenndale Unified SD on some of our PD.

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Educator Pipeline/Retention

Challenges regarding pipeline and retention

*Higley – Spot that a rural school district does not experience. On a bubble regarding contracting educators. How can a district compete with that?

*Litchfield – Storytelling about the life of an educator is so negative. So much negative story to education. How can you lift up education and sell it to the future kids. Do a better job of explaining benefits and retirement. Sell education as a career to celebrate and be proud of.

*Higley – Heavily promotes total compensation. Provides that to everybody in their portals.

If it is not just about the compensation, what are the things other than compensation?

*Litchfield – Only career that makes all others. If we do not give it respect, it won’t be felt. We need to present it with respect.

*Higley – We have to meet people where they consume information. People trust people and not the news article. Needs to be a personal experience and not just an idea.

*Higley – Post a 5-minute video on YouTube about different topics. Puts face to the position and forms connection.

*Litchfield – Starting a community connection where they are giving school tours. Bringing as many community members as possible to tour schools.

What is a big thing you are working on right now and how can ASU be a part?

*Litchfield – Cascading evaluation system for all employees. Lining up with Litchfield Learner and it became domains. Started with leaders first. About to take educator one through discussion and then board approval. All roles have the same domain.

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Ongoing topic of conversation. Compensation study is helpful - job families so they can show progression. How do they become leaders.

In the coming 3-5 years there will be an influx of people hitting retirement age. Principal move to leadership in district as a director role - but no compensation to move there. How to differentiate the work and compensation.

Motivation- want to stay in classroom, but want leadership- but dont want to move to APs or something. APs are learning it takes a lot more than they thought.

Most leadership was former teachers. People dont want their principals to leave.

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Difficult conversations (Afraid to have conversations-admin are afraid they will lose the teacher) Resiliency

Systems Thinking

Interdisciplinary skill sets

Joint development between different school districts.

Start early-job-embedded learning

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The actual work is engaging and fulfilling. How do we navigate through the noise (politics etc)?

Tolleson El - Importance of communication and storytelling to get ahead of the noise.