Can an interview determine if a teacher will be good?

7-2-2010

Can an interview determine if a teacher will be good?

With a Harvard research study, 10 dissertations, empirical data and ongoing success, Haberman’s training is very much in demand.

Since 1994, trainers at the Haberman Educational Foundation in Houston have been teaching the fine art of interviewing prospective teachers to more than 300 schools and districts. Martin Haberman’s half-century of research in the field of teacher training has concluded that beyond content background, two things stand out as key characteristics of good teachers: certain core beliefs, and the ability to persist in the face of student resistance.

Delia Stafford, now CEO and president of the foundation, says, “Our questions are predictive of how teachers will perform in the classroom.”

With a Harvard research study, 10 dissertations, empirical data and ongoing success, Haberman’s training is very much in demand. Recently, they’ve trained the GreenDot and the KIPP charter-school networks, the districts of Guilford City, N.C., San Diego, Newark, Rochester and Memphis, just to name a few. They teach whoever will be doing the hiring — principals, teachers, school improvement and including parents on occasion. Stafford adds, “In one district we trained tons of people, including union representatives.”

She explains, “Getting the right people in teaching positions in the first place makes all the teachers’ lives much easier. Constant teacher turnover disrupts school communities, and costs the nation about $2.6 billion a year.”

I’ve been in touch with Stafford over the years, but her work only became relevant to Rhode Island now, as we’re about to be mercifully liberated from hiring by seniority. In July 2010 the new Basic Education Plan (BEP) requires schools to hire staff only according to the best interests of children and educational quality. The BEP is law.

But for decades our schools have operated in a certified-is-qualified culture. All that mattered was the teacher’s certifications and his date of hire to determine seniority. Yes, districts have always been able to hire a few new teachers, but most jobs have been filled by the most senior teacher who wanted the position, as though teachers were interchangeable piece workers.

Stafford says, “School districts always look at transcripts, tests and student teaching activities. But none of those say very much about an individual’s beliefs about the arduous task of teaching 30 students from different backgrounds, cultures, homes, levels of achievement. I’m not sure what test could define teacher quality. If educators had clearly defined ‘what it takes,’ a test would have been developed over the past 50 years. I think Dr. Haberman has come darn near to fleshing out what predicts a person will make a great teacher.”

The “Haberman Star Teacher” interview takes about 25 minutes to root out key information. “For example, if we find they don’t have the capacity to build relationships with the kids, the rest really doesn’t matter. Relationships are a matter of life and death” educationally, that is. (Education News)