Recruitment for Teachers

1. Promote the district (or community school) as an attractive workplace for teachers.

2. Establish high and unyielding standards in identifying teacher candidates.

3. Develop relationships with potential applicants to document and track teacher effectiveness.


1. Promote the district (or community school) as an attractive workplace for teachers.

Why It Is Important
  • Marketing the characteristics of the district (or community school) that attract teachers ensures that high-quality teachers know about the district (or community school) and its attributes.
  • Every LEA does some METworksSM components well (e.g., competitive compensation and incentives, professional working conditions), and advertising these characteristics in recruitment materials helps attract teaching candidates who prioritize these areas.

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Identify and evaluate existing marketable characteristics of teaching in the district (or community school) and consider ways to increase and/or advertise incentives that are appropriate and feasible for the district (or community school).
  • Compile desirable district (or community school) characteristics that can be communicated to potential applicants 
    (e.g., compensation systems, leadership opportunities, professional development options).
  • Ensure that the descriptions of the district (or community school) and incentives offered are accurate.

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Strategically advertise marketable characteristics before and during recruitment events.
  • Compile the excellent characteristics of the district (or community school) and then communicate these characteristics to potential applicants.
  • Advertise in visible and targeted places in multiple media, such as job fairs, online, in college newspapers, radio stations, foreign-language newspapers (if there is need for teachers with those skills), and the local evening news.
  • Use Ohio’s Teacher Shortage Index to identify teacher shortage areas.
  • Use Ohio’s Web-Based Recruiting System (WBRS) to match prospective applications with LEA vacancies.
  • Keep in mind that beginning July 1, 2013, reciprocity agreements will be prohibited with states found to have inadequate licensure standards.

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2. Establish high and unyielding standards in identifying teacher candidates.

Why It Is Important
Not all teacher characteristics are equally important; student academic gains are associated with teachers’ content mastery (major, minor, or coursework in subject area), level of experience, pedagogical knowledge and skills in effective teaching practices, and academic knowledge and skill, especially in literacy.

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Set LEA recruitment targets aligned to an appropriate goal and monitor progress.
  • Refer to the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession when setting targets related to teacher quality.
  • Use recruitment goals to judge where the LEA has been successful and where it needs to improve.
  • Use the process of setting recruitment goals to consider the LEA’s need for teachers with underrepresented attributes, such as those from minority backgrounds.
  • If the district (or community school) has 
    a successful recruitment record, use it to help strategically market the district (or community school) to future applicants.

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Provide equal access to high quality teachers for all students, especially students from low socioeconomic or minority backgrounds.
  • Consider that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often need not just equal but greater access to high-quality teachers.
  • Pay attention to how teachers are distributed both across schools and across classrooms within schools.
  • Revisit the 68 strategies outlined in Ohio’s Teacher Equity Plan.

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3. Develop relationships with potential applicants to document and track teacher effectiveness.

Why It Is Important
  • These relationships provide access to a large source of potential teachers.
  • Allowing potential applicants into classrooms as student teachers, interns, or observers provides an introduction to the district (or community school).
  • Often, there are high-quality former teachers who would consider returning to the profession with the appropriate encouragement.
  • Work with your Education Service Center and State Support Team to recruit and prepare teachers in hard-to-staff schools and subjects.

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Establish high and unyielding standards in identifying teacher candidates.
Not all teacher characteristics are equally important; student academic gains are associated with teachers’ content mastery (major, minor, or coursework in subject area), level of experience, pedagogical knowledge and skills in effective teaching practices, and academic knowledge and skill, especially in literacy.

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Consider partnerships with community colleges.
Take stock of the district or community school’s access to universities; also, community colleges can provide a pool of untapped talent, particularly in geographical locations that are not well served by larger universities.

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Create partnerships with the pool of inactive teachers, including retired teachers.
Create messaging strategies to encourage individuals who are undecided about whether to return to the profession after some time out (e.g., due to maternity or paternity leave, retirement, or other reasons) to return to teaching.

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Incorporate into the recruitment process a focus on teacher leadership, as per Ohio’s Leadership Development Framework focus on leadership regardless of role.
  • Include information about teacher leadership opportunities in recruitment material.
  • Include information on the diversity of expertise sought in the district (or community school).
  • Consider differentiated staffing structures.

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Cultivate future teachers through “grow-your-own” programs with high school students, paraprofessionals, teacher aides, and community members.
  • Recognize that teachers cultivated from the community will be more likely to teach at local schools.
  • Consider that “grow-your-own” teacher initiatives with interested paraprofessionals, parents, and high school future teachers clubs are particularly helpful in rural areas.

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Last Modified: 9/21/2016 2:14:21 PM