National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality National Issue Forum

A Summary of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality National Issue Forum: Addressing Personnel Shortages and the Recruitment of Special Education, Mathematics, and Science Teachers in At-Risk Schools

May 24–25, 2006
Sofitel Chicago O'Hare, Rosemont, Illinois

Day 1

Welcome and Introductions

Sabrina Laine, Ph.D., director of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality , welcomed participants and described how the work of National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality fits in with that of the comprehensive centers. She provided an overview of National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality's mission statement, operating principals, and capacity-building framework and touched on teacher recruitment issues across the country.

Dr. Laine explained that this national forum is the first in a series of forums that will be revised in scope to address a regional audience. The primary goals of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality forum are the following:

• To build knowledge and resource foundation
• To learn emerging strategies and practices
• To build capacity to share and apply knowledge base
• To use applicable tools and resources to identify data trends around special education, mathematics, and science

In an effort to help participants organize the vast amount of resources available on teacher quality and build their own resource libraries, a resource binder will be issued at each of these forums.

Keynote Address—Moderator: Dan Reschly, Vanderbilt University

Addressing Personnel Shortages and the Recruitment of Special Education, Mathematics, and Science Teachers in At-Risk Schools

Richard Ingersoll, Ph.D., researcher on teacher quality and supply-and-demand issues with the University of Pennsylvania, presented his perspectives and national data on the teacher shortage—in terms of teachers moving and leaving the profession—and how this crisis specifically relates to mathematics, science, and special education. He discussed some of the quantifiable and nonquantifiable consequences associated with teacher turnover, including the negative impact on community and instructional coherency. The teacher staffing issue also has created an obstacle to meeting No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. Dr. Ingersoll suggests addressing these challenges not by recruiting but by taking a closer look at, and perhaps changing, how schools are organized.

With 55,000 teachers; 12,000 schools; and all 50 states participating, the Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-Up Survey are the nation's largest sources of information available on teachers. The following are a few of the revealing results presented by Dr. Ingersoll:

• The survey results demonstrate high teacher turnover in terms of entrants and departures within a year period. With a teacher force of more than 3.4 million, there were more than 534,000 entrants and more than 546,000 departures.
• Urban or less privileged schools lose 2.5 times the number of teachers per year than suburban or more privileged schools.
• Retirement and school staffing actions (e.g., firings, closings) make up the smallest percentage of teachers leaving or moving.
• Dissatisfied special education teachers make up the largest percentage of teachers leaving or moving.

Presentation and Roundtable Discussions

Cortney Rowland, National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, provided an overview of the Planning Tool to Provide Evidence of Progress Toward Equitable Teacher Distribution and set the stage for the roundtable discussions and remaining activities for the day.

Participants discussed within their groups, recorded notes, and posted them on chart paper around the room.

Best Practices Panel—Moderator: Phoebe Gillespie

Phoebe Gillespie, National Center for Special Education Personnel and Related Service Providers, introduced the panel members after providing a brief overview of her organization's work and objectives, which follow:

• Data, planning, and management of data systems are the focus areas for collaboration on personnel needs.
• Helping states develop data-management planning processes to look at how many people are entering and completing the special education program is an objective.
• Providing strategic action planning is an objective.

The Watkins Group: Engaging the Community in Recruitment and Retention

Vincent Watkins, The Watkins Group, shared his organization's innovative model for involving the community in the recruitment of teachers and highlighted how his approach contrasts with more conventional teacher-recruitment models. Highlights from this presentation include the following:

• The focus is on ensuring that candidates know the language, culture, and religion of the target audience.
• It is important to involve community stakeholders in the process by linking the five islands: religion, residence, business, education, and recreation.
• The community's involvement in the process of hiring teachers is a fulfillment of civic responsibility. The organization emphasizes this belief by defining and assigning specific roles for candidates, facilitators, and supporters in the process.

The Watkins Group has received increased interest in its services throughout the 15 states in which it works, and there have been reports of increased diversity in recruiting.

Clark County Schools in Las Vegas: Recruitment Initiatives

George Ann Rice, Clark County Schools, discussed several community-focused programs currently being implemented in Clark County Schools. Many of the programs are based on the same concepts that drive The Watkins Group's recruiting model. Others were developed to address the school district's unique needs. Based in Las Vegas, Clark County is the fastest growing county in the state and producing only 25 percent of the teachers needed. They also are faced with recruitment and retention challenges indigenous to gaming-industry communities. Following are highlights of some of the district's innovative incentive programs:

• The chamber of commerce and other business partners are involved in the teacher-recruitment process. When offers go out to teacher candidates, business partners are prompted by e-mail to contact the candidate in order to promote the community.
• Clark County provides temporary housing and loans to assist candidates who are in need and have come to the state to apply for positions.
• Teachers who come on board early to participate in the learning community are moved up on the salary schedule.
• Clark County is using local celebrities, billboards, bus stop ads, and movie trailers to advertise the importance of education.

Virginia Commonwealth University: META Program

Terry Dozier, Virginia Commonwealth University, discussed some of the current work of the Metropolitan Educational Training Alliance (META) alternative licensure program for special education teachers. The organization, founded in February 2001, is a partnership of the Virginia counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico; the Richmond Public Schools; and the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. The organization provides the framework to identify needs and opportunities shared by all of the districts around alternative certification for special education teachers. Following are highlights from Dozier's discussion:

• META targets instructional aids with at least a bachelor's degree to become special education teachers.
• Since META's inception in 2002, 42 instructional aids have participated.
• Since META's inception, 35 instructional aids have been hired by the META school districts.
• Since META's inception, 3 instructional aids have been selected as Teacher of the Year for their schools.

Roundtable Discussion

Based on the information presented by the panelists, participants used a set of guiding questions to discuss in their groups how to apply the recruiting and retention strategies in their own regions and states.

National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Online Resources

Cortney Rowland provided an introduction to the resources available on the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality website (www.tqsource.org). She discussed how the online resources are linked directly to and support National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality's goals, and they are designed to promote the successful implementation of teacher quality initiatives. Rowland walked participants through the website, focusing on resources relevant to mathematics, science, and special education. She navigated and described the following tools:

• HOUSSE (high objective uniform state standard of evaluation) database
• Paraprofessional database
• TQ Tips and Tools: Emerging Strategies to Enhance Teacher Quality

Conclusion and Debrief

Amy Jackson, National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, thanked participants and presenters and provided logistical information for the subsequent events.

Day 2

Keynote Address—Moderator: Paul Kimmelman

American Competitiveness Initiative

Patricia Ross, U.S. Department of Education, opened her discussion by recalling that the first release of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study data was one of the major events that drew attention to mathematics and science data in this country. The idea that individual schools, districts, and states could be prepared internationally—and compared in mathematics and science—sparked the nation's interest in closely gauging the performance of schools across the country. It had become apparent that American students compete internationally as well as locally.

Ross went on to discuss the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), introduced by President George W. Bush in January 2006. ACI is an aggressive long-term plan aimed at strengthening the nation's mathematics and science infrastructure. To support the wide range of programs proposed under this initiative, the president has requested $5.9 billion for distribution in 2007 and $136 billion in the next 10 years. As part of the ACI, funding is being proposed to support a variety of programs and innovations, including work in biology, research and development, energy conservation, and workforce training; however, a significant share of the ACI proposals being considered in Congress address mathematics and science education. Following are highlights of some of those plans:

• A national mathematics panel has been formed to create a research framework of effective practices and instruction in mathematics and science. The panel has been appointed by executive order to draft and submit a report by January 2007. This ambitious schedule is based on the need to use the research from this study to inform two major mathematics initiatives. Progress on these initiatives can be tracked on the U.S. Department of Education website.
• Math Now for Elementary School Students is similar to Reading First in design. However, instead of being run by the state, this federal program will be based on principles of research aimed at preparing students for more rigorous mathematics instruction in middle and high school. The idea is to create a curriculum and intervention that prepares children to take algebra by eighth grade.
• Math Now for Middle School Students is similar to the Striving Readers Initiative in that its main purpose is to develop models to help accelerate struggling mathematics students.
• Congress currently is considering the president's proposal to include science assessments as part of adequate yearly progress reporting.
• The Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) program is aimed at expanding access for low-income high school students by training 75,000 teachers to lead AP/IB mathematics, increasing student participation to 1.5 million in five years, and increasing the number of AP/IB mathematics and science tests passed by low-income students.

Keynote Q & A

How do teachers become eligible for the federal loan-forgiveness program?

• Certified mathematics, science, and special education teachers who have been teaching in challenging schools with at least a 30 percent low-income student population for at least five years are eligible to receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness.
• At least one of the five qualifying years of teaching must have occurred after the 1997–98 academic year.
• The loan must have been made before the end of the fifth year of qualifying teaching.
• The elementary or secondary school must be public or private nonprofit.
• The program applies only to student loans and does not work along with or the same as a tuition-reimbursement program.

What federal incentives are in place to help elementary and middle school teachers reach their goal of having students proficient in algebra by eighth grade?

• The Mathematics and Science Partnerships program serves that very purpose. It is intended to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships are formed between the school districts and higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty as well as with other organizations, including state education agencies and nonprofit or for-profit businesses.

How can the federal government create incentives for universities to change their preservice programs to increase mathematics standards?

• There is a lot of interest and conversation about preservice preparation and how to create incentives for change in universities. However, this is an area over which the government has very little control.

Has any thought been given to how the adjunct teacher initiative can be reconciled with the highly qualified teacher requirement?

• Yes, there has been a lot of conversation about this topic. There are provisions for what would be required. As part of the program of support, adjunct teachers would be provided with the pedagogical skills needed to teach as they draw the connections between mathematics and science and the private and public business sectors.

Best Practices Panel—Facilitator: Chris Reising

Chris Reising, Southern California Teacher Recruitment and Support Center, set the context for the upcoming panel and roundtable discussions by emphasizing the importance of mathematics and science and the current teacher recruitment and retention efforts across the country. Reising referred to Ingesoll's May 24, 2006, keynote address, which focused more on retention than recruitment, noting that one issue cannot be discussed in isolation of the other.

California has had the good fortune of stable teacher-retention rates, partly due to the state's induction program. However, with $150 million in recruitment efforts eliminated and the university system's goal of doubling the number of mathematics and science teachers by 2010, California's focus is on reestablishing recruitment centers to replenish the teacher supply.

The New Teacher Project

Ariela Rozman, The New Teacher Project, discussed strategies to effectively recruit and hire mathematics and science teachers in urban areas and presented examples from a New York City case study on how strategies can be implemented to address this critical need.

Even with the New York City Teaching Fellows alternate-certification program, the state still has not produced enough teachers to fill vacancies because many of those created by the New York state mandate in 2000 only replaced noncertified teachers with certified ones. Rozman advised using the following four strategies to help boost the recruitment and hiring of mathematics and science teachers.

• Strategy 1
• Implement rigorous recruitment strategies. Many districts look at alternate routes as a last resort, but there are quality routes. Select high-quality candidates from other professions and inspire or convince them to join the teaching profession.
• Strategy 2
• Study sample data, look at the impact of marketing strategies, understand costs associated with each applicant, invest in several different marketing options (e.g., Internet, job sites, local forums, business site links), and view the results formatively.
• Strategy 3
• Take a streamlined approach to customer service, ensuring that the recruitment and hiring process is efficient and dates are well defined and communicated to applicants. If faulty timelines are unavoidable, make meaningful contact with applicants to explain the situation, and extend the following additional courtesies to priority candidates:
• Phone call from a mathematics or science teacher
• Postcard from a student
• News update on what is going on in the district
• Strategy 4
• Take advantage of the New York City Teaching Fellows Math Immersion program, which helps candidates who are interested in teaching mathematics (but did not major in the field) gain the credits they need to teach mathematics in the New York City public schools.

The Center for Teaching Quality: 2006 Teaching and Learning Conditions Surveys

Eric Hirsch, Center for Teaching Quality, discussed the 2006 results of the Teaching and Learning Conditions surveys, which gathered data on teacher working conditions from 125,000 educators in six states. Findings across the states were consistent and included the following:

• Although mathematics and science teaching positions are hard to staff, they do not differ significantly from other areas.
• Rural districts need to rely on recruiting teachers through alternate routes, but these candidates often are not highly qualified.
• Rural and urban educators leave at about the same rate; however, rural teachers are less likely to leave because there is nowhere to go.
• There is less teacher movement in schools that are organized for success with strong leaders.

South Carolina Department of Education

Janice Poda, South Carolina Department of Education, discussed state initiatives to recruit teachers into the teaching profession and the classroom. Poda pointed out that while there are distinct differences between recruiting objectives and approaches to bringing teachers into the profession versus the classroom, both are challenging with their own set of obstacles to overcome. Following are some of the current recruiting efforts:

• Recruitment Into the Profession
• The Teacher Cadet Program gives high school seniors the opportunity to explore the teaching profession. Many states have adopted a concept that is aimed at inspiring high school students to go into teaching by educating them about the profession, providing them with field experience, incorporating mathematics and science into the curriculum, and exposing them to an overall positive experience in the program.
• ProTeam is designed to make middle school and ninth-grade students aware of the skills needed to complete college and make them consider education as a viable career option. Research says that students decide by age 14 what they are not going to do as a profession, and one of them is teaching.
• Recruitment Into the Classroom
• The Program of Alternative Certification for Educators was started in 1984. This program was designed for career changers and produces more mathematics and science teachers than education preparatory programs in South Carolina. In addition, it is the single largest producer of teachers in the state; it requires that candidates pass a test in content before entering the program and a pedagogy test before receiving a license.
• Teacher-Teachers.com is a national job applicant website that offers access to job seekers and schools.
• Project CREATE (Centers for the Re-Education and Advancement of Teachers in Special Education) is a personnel preparation project initially funded by the South Carolina Office of Exceptional Children to provide coursework and textbooks for out-of-field permit special education teachers and other special education teachers pursuing full certification. Within two years, there was a significant decrease in special education shortages due to this program.
• Retention
• Incentives include a mentor program as well as money for Teacher of the Year.

Q & A

Are signing bonuses an effective strategy for recruiting and retaining teachers?

• Signing bonuses should not be excluded from the package, but alone they do not accomplish much. The Working Conditions Survey reveals that only 18 percent of teachers feel there is mutual trust. In addition, every single nonfinancial incentive was reported as more important than signing bonuses.
• Teachers have been known to go from district to district accepting signing bonuses. Signing bonuses are more of a short-term fix. South Carolina would like to see longer term financial incentives.

Has the state received opposition from the teachers union with regard to financial incentives for teachers?

• There are no teachers unions in South Carolina. The state is more focused on teaching and learning conditions than on salary. However, it does need a cooperative model.
• School district salary-incentive proposals, such as differentiated pay for differentiated roles (i.e., special education teachers) have not been presented to the American Federation of Teachers or the National Education Association. Therefore, they have not been met with opposition from these organizations.
• Engaging unions is a must.

How important is technology in addressing teacher shortage? What are the barriers to more implementation of technology?

• Teaching is about relationships, and technology does not promote this aspect.
• Some of the issues and barriers are the following:
• Certification
• Lack of principal control
• Potential for poor quality
• With no teacher, it is uncertain what level or quality a support person would be in classrooms with students.
• Even with the infrastructure in place, there would be limited skill level, especially among veteran teachers.

Expert Roundtable Presentations and Discussions—Eric Hirsch, Kawanda McLendon, Janice Poda, Chris Reising, George Ann Rice, Ariela Rozman, Rebecca Villarreal, and Amanda Riviera

Following the panel presentations and discussions, the roundtable experts each delivered a short presentation on a topic of their choice, stemming from the larger discussions around research, initiatives, barriers, and opportunities in recruitment work. They then used a set of guiding questions to lead discussions at their tables.

Conclusion, Debrief, and Next Steps

Amy Jackson closed the two-day session with thanks and a request for the submission of evaluation surveys. She also informed participants that a summary of the forum and resources will be posted to the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality website.

 

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