Recruiting Math and Science Teachers in
Urban Areas
Strategies and Results
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Issue Forum
May 2006
About The New Teacher Project
• The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is a national non-profit organization,
founded in 1997.
• Our clients are school districts, state departments of education, colleges
and universities, and other educational entities.
• TNTP partners with its clients to:
o Increase the number of outstanding individuals who become public
school teachers; and
o Create environments for all educators that maximize their impact on
student achievement.
• Since 1997, TNTP has attracted and prepared over 20,000 new, high-quality
teachers and launched more than 40 programs in 22 states.
• Among others, TNTP’s clients include cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore,
Cleveland, Memphis, New York and Washington, DC; and states such as
Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and Virginia.
2
© The New Teacher Project 2006
How do you recruit and hire more math and science teachers in
urban areas?

Establish multiple sources for teacher candidates

Attract the most applicants into your applicant pool through aggressive
recruitment strategies and tracking

Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent
customer service, early hiring and cultivation

Expand your pool of eligible applicants
3
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Establish multiple sources for teacher candidates
4
© The New Teacher Project 2006
NYC Teaching Fellows Results
• NYCTF receives an average of
16,000 applications each year
There are more than
NYC
7,000
• There are more Fellows in NYC
than there are teachers in
Boston, San Francisco, or
Milwaukee
• If NYC Teaching Fellows were
a school system unto
themselves, there would be
enough of them to staff the
24th largest district in America
TEACHING
FELLOWS
• 23% of all math teachers in the
district are Fellows
Teaching Fellows
currently teaching in
NYC alone
• Of the 1,785 participants in the
2005 cohort, approximately 92
percent were eligible to teach
high-need subject areas
5
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Attract the most applicants into your applicant pool through
aggressive recruitment strategies and tracking
Sample: Tracking Sources of High-Need Applicants
Internet - $17 / app
50
Classified Ads – $55 / app
45
Maximizing Referrals
40
Application
More Cost-Effective
Strategies
Math
35
Science
30
25
On-Campus recruitment
Mail/Email Campaigns
Less Cost-Effective
Strategies
20
15
Radio/TV Ads - $189/app
10
Display Ads – $200+/app
Paid Publicity
5
0
Internet
Referral
Print Ad
Campus
Publicity
Source
6
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent
customer service, early hiring and cultivation
Online application
Applicant tools:
• Status viewer
• Info session
scheduler
• Interview day
scheduler
• Forms and
resources
Clear program
information
7
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Ensure that you keep the best applicants in the pool through excellent
customer service, early hiring and cultivation (cont’d)
What is “cultivation?”
• High-quality, meaningful, and
targeted contact with teacher
candidates
• Helps ensure that candidates
complete the application process
despite other competing districts or
any difficulties
Who do you target?
• Prospective candidates who have
requested more information
• Candidates in the application
process
• Candidates who have been accepted
but who have not yet committed
• Any prospective teacher for critical
shortage subject areas.
• We have found that most urban
districts do not have problems
attracting applicants, their
problems are with keeping
applicants.
• Experience shows that strategic,
prioritized cultivation of
interested contacts helps to
increase the number of them who
remain in the process and begin
teaching.
• Our research has shown that it is
often the highest-quality
candidates who respond to
continual, active encouragement
to remain in the process without a
firm commitment or placement
offer
8
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Expand the pool of eligible applicants
The New Teacher Project’s Math Immersion Program
Candidate Pathway
Candidate interest
Candidate
experience
Transcript
review
Immersion
training
Testing
•
Math Immersion increases the number of math teachers entering the New York
City Public School System through NYCTF.
•
Candidates accepted to the Math Immersion Program must have taken and
passed an under-graduate level calculus course with a B- or better.
•
Candidates participate in a two week intensive math refresher in addition to
seven weeks of pre-service training that focuses on content and pedagogy.
•
At the end of a two week math refresher, candidates have an opportunity to
switch to another content area if they are not comfortable with math.
•
All candidates must pass a math content exam as required by New York State
before entering the classroom.
9
© The New Teacher Project 2006
 Expand the pool of eligible applicants (cont’d)
Math Immersion Program Results
500%
Math Immersion increased the
number of math teachers placed
through NYCTF by more than
500% each year.
95%
95% of candidates each of the last
two years have passed the state
certification exam in math.
390
In September 2005, NYCTF placed
390 new math teachers in New
York City Public Schools. Just 34
of those math teachers were math
majors.
10
No significant difference in
Fellow satisfaction, principal
satisfaction, or retention between
those teachers placed in math
positions through the immersion
program and those who were
math majors.
Of two recent value-added
student achievement studies, one
found that Teaching Fellows who
teach math at the middle school
level show statistically
significant higher student gains
by their third year in the
classroom than traditionally
certified teachers.
The second found that Teaching
Fellows are equal to traditionally
certified teachers by year three.
© The New Teacher Project 2006