Recruiting Faculty: New Solutions Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President bassett@nais.org For titles and subtitles each word capitalized except articles and prepositions and conjunctions for four or fewer letters. Title and subtitle text appears black on clear/white backgrounds.

Teacher Recruitment: New Solutions The Solutions: Address the Conundrums of Hiring (Ed Ryan, Hiring the Best). Avoid… Hiring for what one knows rather than who one is. Hiring quickly and firing slowly. Hiring for previous experience rather than for future potential. Utilize the NAIS Career Center: www.nais.org (searchable database of >1000 resumes) Join Teachers of Color Networks: Nemnet.com & The Diversity Network (deep database, all faculty of color)

Teacher Recruitment: New Solutions Grow your Own: Intern/Teacher Training Projects in Independent Schools: Culver, Shady Hill, Friends School Detroit, University School (OH) (12-mo. Master’s/Certification program with Ursuline College: $13K tuition pays for staffing, mentors, college fees; most are adults seeking career change, all with BA/BS degrees. 18 University School teachers are now graduates of the program.) Market to your own Constituencies: Parent, Alumni: Website and Listserv announcements.(“Why I Stay…” in Independent School, Spring 2003: “I didn’t think to teach here, the school sought me.”) Give Referral Bonuses to your Faculty: $1000 per new teacher referred & hired. Market Collaboratively (NAIS & A/I & Local campaigns): College Campuses, Military Publications, Ed Week, etc.: e.g., Princeton Collaborative

Teacher Recruitment Campaign Brochure

Teacher Recruitment Website: www.isadvocacy.org/teachers

Ads in Ed Week Jan – May, NYTimes Online, etc. Mailings to 400 Colleges

Repaying Teachers’ Student Loans Incentivize Coming to your School Repaying Teachers’ Student Loans Debt levels impact career choice Low teaching salaries make it difficult for new teachers to manage student loan debt: Providing non-salary benefits to reduce the debt burden help make the decision easier Creates tangible incentive separate from salary increase and promotes retention Repay student loan principal and interest as long as teacher is employed Payment amount would be approximately $125 per month (or $1,500 per year) for every $10,000 in outstanding principal Assumes a ten-year repayment term, 8.25 percent interest rate Would be lower with longer repayment periods and/or lower interest rates

Student Loan Debt1 and Repayment2 Monthly Payment/Annual Payout Degree Awarded Type of Institution Amt Borrowed (Median) Interest Rate@ 4.86 percent (current) 8.25 percent (max) Bachelor’s Public 4-year $15,375 $162.03 / $1,944 $188.58 / $2,263 Private 4-year $17,250 $181.78 / $2,181 $211.58 / $2,539 Master’s $17,341 $182.74 / $2,193 $212.69 / $2,552 $24,409 $257.23 / $3,087 $299.38 / $3,593 Doctorate All $24,078 $253.74 / $3,045 $295.32 / $3,544 1Source: American Council on Education web page, http://www.acenet.edu/faq/viewInfo.cfm?faqID=21, as provided in the 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted by NCES. 2Source: Student loan repayment calculators at www.finaid.org. “Current” interest rates apply to Federal Stafford loans disbursed between 7/94 and 6/98. Loans disbursed thereafter currently have a 4.06 percent interest rate. No Federal Stafford loans may exceed an 8.25 percent interest rate.

Attracting candidates in general and faculty of color in particular to teaching in independent schools: What have we learned?

The Internal Culture Consciously Adopt Hiring Policies To Grow Diversity: Insist on a diverse pool of finalists: locus of authority may need to change from department or division faculty and department chair to division head or head. Required Reading: Michael Brosnan’s AISNE Guide on Hiring and Retaining Teachers of Color; Pearl Kane & Alfonso Orsini’s The Colors of Excellence. Speak the Unspoken Agenda—Address upfront the unspoken issues: Should we recruit from less selective colleges? Accept lower GPAs? Is it OK for a black candidate to be “activist” or “angry” if it’s not OK for a white candidate to be so? For candidates of color, be prepared to answer this question: “Are you hiring me because I’m a black person who can teach math or because I can teach math and being black is, all other things being equal, a tipping point factor in my favor?” Note: Teach for America recruits effectively the most successful candidates of color from the most selective colleges and universities.

The Internal Culture The Interview: Make it welcoming, not intimidating. Emphasize Advocacy Initiative messages: support systems and collegiality and freedom to innovate. Critical Mass for Faculty of Color: When faculty of color around 20% or more, everything changes: easier to recruit families of color; easier to retain students and faculty of color; school culture and policies now up for grabs, once assimilation model transcended and multicultural model embodied, literally.

Teach for America Experience1 Go to competitive colleges, use young idealistic staff to recruit peers, focus on opportunities to lead change. 5,000 selected over a 10 year period (30,000 applicants). (Large percentage of minority candidates.) 2002/03: 16,000 Applications for 2,000 spots Average GPA 3.4 Average SAT scores 1248 (self report) 86% held leadership positions on their college campuses 58% of alumni are still working in education: 37% still teaching; 21% are in graduate schools of education or working as administrators 1Pearl Rock Kane, The Color of Experience (The College Press) & Address to ISACS, Spring 2001

What Have We Learned?1 Prefer teamwork over solo practice Today’s motivated liberal arts graduates: Prefer teamwork over solo practice Seek varied responsibilities for leadership in the classroom/school Want higher salaries for specialized responsibilities and expertise Thrive on challenge - exposure to the complexity of teaching 1Pearl Rock Kane, The Color of Experience (The College Press) & Address to ISACS, Spring 2001

What Have We Learned?1 start with a mentor Teachers are more likely to stay in teaching who… start with a mentor undertake advanced professional education have a philosophy in concert with school’s philosophy experience a workplace that fosters teacher success have remuneration they consider fair Teachers of color are more likely to stay where… school has a large number of students of color So… hire and pay for and support talent 1Pearl Rock Kane, The Color of Experience (The College Press) & Address to ISACS, Spring 2001

Sample Testimonial: Why I Teach in an Independent School Adams once said, "A teacher affects eternity." Teaching in my school makes me appreciate the eternal dimensions of my work, for I nourish the minds and hearts and souls of my students…. Can any job be more important than teaching in a private school? My school has the future leaders of America, and the work that I'm doing has eternal consequences, plus the school environment is a wonderful place to teach and work. I came here because the school is a caring, orderly, safe, and a nurturing environment that emphasizes the education of the whole child and insists on academic excellence; and I have a great deal of autonomy and independence in matters of instruction…. I can spend time "teaching" and doing what I am supposed to be doing rather than taking time on discipline issues. Parents are paying for their child's education, so they are pleasant and supportive, and that is another great advantage. I can attend many conferences throughout the year, and every year my school administration pays for my trip to the "People of Color Conferences" where I can meet independent school teachers and educators throughout the United States, and this opportunity shows me that my school understands diversity and supports NAIS in their endeavor to be sensitive to faculty of color.

The End! For titles and subtitles each word capitalized except articles and prepositions and conjunctions for four or fewer letters. Title and subtitle text appears black on clear/white backgrounds.