THE
Head’s LETTER Published by Educational Directions Incorporated • The Trusted Authority for Advancing School Leadership • www.edu-directions.com JANUARY 2016 | VOLUME XLIV - NO. 4 FR OM YOUR COLLEAGU E S
Seeking 21st Century Talent By MATT GLENDINNING, Head of School, Moses Brown School, Providence, RI and CARLA ROBBINS SILVER, Executive Director, Leadership + Design, Los Gatos, CA
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ust about every school these days is focused on developing so-called 21st century skills in its students, e.g., creativity, teamwork, critical thinking, complex communication, and problem solving. Yet ironically, few schools seem to have explicit ways to seek or develop those traits in the adults charged with fostering them. Hiring practices at independent schools haven’t changed all that much in the past generation, causing us to rely on fairly traditional approaches even when we have a whole new toolbox at our fingertips. Is a resume still the best way for candidates to share their credentials and potential? Does observing a sample lesson tell you what you really need to know about a teacher? What if we reimagined the way we seek, hire, and mentor teachers and school leaders? Could we create a hiring process that engages candidates actively and authentically, demanding and eliciting evidence of creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking? Consider job descriptions. Most aren’t very exciting. What would happen if position statements were a bit more creative? Two years ago, MB was inundated with applications from unique and talented people when we described our ideal Communications Director like this: • A masterful storyteller; a lover of words and brevity • Someone fluent in people; can speak to anyone (whether young, old, skeptical, shy, outraged, or simply unaware) and make them feel seen and understood • An amateur social psychologist; seeks to understand what makes human beings tick, click, decide, and act within a community • An opportunist—able to see every task as an occasion to create unique value; has an infectious enthusiasm that inspires others to see their roles the same way. What if job posts evolved into something more than a Word document? Richer formats such as video allow for evocative storytelling and the possibility of viral dissemination through social media. Imagine a job “description” that invites candidates to meet future colleagues and glimpse the work culture of a prospective employer. Hiring managers at schools spend hours reading resumes and educational philosophy statements, and days screening candidates with short phone calls or 25-minute interviews in crowded hotel ballrooms. While some of these methods may be efficient, they’re not always effective in identifying 21st century skills.
What if we asked candidates to submit a five-minute “elevator pitch,” a response to a prompt like “Teach us something that you’re passionate about,” or “Tell us about a time you worked with a team to create a new experience for students.” Such selfie videos allow scope for creativity and demonstrate complex communication skills. The technology is simple and ubiquitous. What if we conducted initial screening interviews by means of web conferencing platforms? The visual component provides a more humane interface than a telephone. Such interviews can even be recorded (with permission) and shared with a full committee. What do we ask teaching candidates to do during their oncampus visit? Teaching a sample class is meant to demonstrate important information about a candidate, e.g., lesson planning, teaching style, and classroom management. While this works to an extent, there is an awkward artificiality about such sessions that can obscure a teacher’s true instincts and abilities. Given that the sample lesson often weighs heavily in a search committee’s deliberations, should we be exploring other, more genuine ways to learn about a teacher? Most candidates spend the bulk of their visit day interviewing—talking—with various constituencies. Hearing about a candidate’s skills is one thing; but seeing them in action is another. That’s why some schools, taking a cue from business, are using experiential interview activities that simulate real-world work. What if we asked teachers to role-play a difficult parent conference, write a draft comment home, or work with a team to design a new, multidisciplinary curriculum unit? What if they worked with a small group of students to craft a student-led lesson plan? Over the course of this school year, we are seeking collaborators interested in exploring new models for hiring, ones that are intentional in identifying 21st century skills in teachers and school leaders. What challenges, assumptions, or limitations are shaping your hiring practices? Do you have a unique approach to recruiting or a particularly effective interview strategy? If so, we’d like to hear from you at mglendinning@ mosesbrown.org or carla@leadershipanddesign.org, and we would welcome your involvement at our three workshops on this topic at the NAIS 2016 annual conference in San Francisco at the end of February. Moses Brown School, Coed, Day, enrolls 765 students in grades N-12. Leadership+Design is a collaborative of educators devoted to better professional development experiences for school leaders.