A report released Monday shows that highly qualified teachers often bypass some school systems because of delays in the hiring process, not the quality of students or schools.

The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit consulting organization, looked at teacher hiring patterns because research shows that the largest school-controlled influence on student achievement is teacher quality.

The report studied four geographically diverse school systems with an average of slightly fewer than 73,000 students each. The district had in common high poverty rates, with 65 percent to 75 percent of the students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches, a measure of the poverty a school system must cope with. The report was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Washington Mutual.

Nearly 48 percent of Caddo's 45,000 students receive free or reduced-price lunches.

Caddo and Bossier parishes already use some of the hiring practices the report recommends, including tying contracts to a specific school, hiring earlier than July or August and projecting vacancies in the spring.

Bill Tynes, Bossier schools human resources director, believes hiring teachers for a specific school helps the system recruit. Tynes starts calculating vacancies in April. By mid-April, principals are able to interview prospective teachers, about the same time as Tynes is visiting college campuses to recruit new graduates. By the time prospects start paperwork at the beginning of June, they usually know which classroom will be theirs.

"I know that's different from a lot of places that hire them and send them where they (system officials) want," Tynes said. "When they come in, they know exactly where they're going to go. If they don't like the school when they drive up, they don't have the interview. There are no surprises. That's appealing to the applicants. "

Tynes said the only catch is employees who resign at the last minute, usually those who have reached retirement age and are participating in a deferred retirement program.

"Those are the ones who sneak up on us," Tynes said. "It happens every year."

He said last-minute resignations or retirements in subjects with a chronic lack of candidates, like foreign languages, complicates the scramble to find a replacement.

Caddo also hires for specific jobs based on principals' recommendations.

"Normally, as soon as school is out, or even before that, we begin hiring teachers new to the parish," said Charles Walker, Caddo schools certified personnel director. "We go as fast as our principals make recommendations. Some personnel departments may do the placing of teachers. I think most of them around here allow that principal to do interviews and make recommendations."

Caddo hires yearround as vacancies come up, though the biggest push is usually in the spring. Human resources employees hold two hiring fairs a year and recruit student teachers all year, Walker said. The system usually has 300 vacancies a year, a combination of retiring and resigning teachers and those working on temporary certification who must be released at the end of each year because of state certification rules.

Caddo had only 175 to 200 teaching vacancies going into the 2003-04 school year because of budget cuts. Walker estimated the system still is trying to fill 20 vacancies among a 3,000-person teaching staff. Substitute teachers are handling those positions. Even with aggressive hiring over the summer and year-round recruiting, Walker said, it's difficult to fill specialty areas special education because of a lack of certified candidates.

Carla Moore, principal of Westwood Elementary School in Shreveport, is using substitutes for a special education kindergarten class, the last of six vacancies she had to fill for this year. She had an interview scheduled for today with a candidate who appears to meet the new qualification requirements for schools that receive federal Title I money. Title I is a program that grants funding to schools based on their poverty levels.

The minute she learned about pending vacancies this spring, Moore started calling teachers who had filed a transfer request with the school system personnel office. It didn't matter to which school they wanted to transfer.

"I always ask them if they've considered coming to our school," Moore said. "We also fill vacancies from the (parishwide) job fair we have. The best time to fill them is before everyone starts getting away for the summer."

But intangible qualities that can't be conveyed by a resume caused her to delay hiring a fourth-grade teacher almost until the start of school. The job, erroneously advertised as a third-grade position, drew numerous applicants. They never returned after learning during interviews that it was actually a fourth-grade teaching position.

Louisiana's high-stakes testing program puts the spotlight on fourth-graders and their teachers, because the students must pass standardized tests to move to the next grade. A large part of a school's yearly performance ranking rests on fourth-graders' test scores.

"No one wants the LEAP grade," said Lisa Taylor, whom Moore hired for the job shortly before school started. "But I liked the challenge."

Taylor is entering her 11th year of teaching. She previously taught in Caddo, took a leave of absence, and started looking for another job in August. She talked to other teachers about how school administrators worked with teachers at various Caddo and Bossier schools when deciding where to apply.

The New Teacher Project report noted that many experienced teachers base their decision about where to teach solely on their rapport with the principal.

Taylor "prayerfully considered" where to interview before settling on Westwood and a Bossier Parish school. When she and Moore bonded during the interview, Taylor said she knew she had found her place.

"I've been very happy," Taylor said.

So has Moore, who praised Taylor's commitment to the school and her knowledge of the subjects she teaches.

"She took one look at her room and brought her husband and her father out here on a Sunday to paint the room," Moore said. "She's familiar with DEEP in Math, a program we're piloting, and she has a hands-on approach to teaching."

And Moore appreciates Taylor's flexibility. Nearly a month into the school year, fourth-grade staffing is still in transition. Moore Monday succeeded in hiring another fourth-grade teacher who will handle English and language arts. Taylor started out teaching all subjects but now will focus on math, science and health.

It's not unusual for schools to move employees or hire into the school year, Walker said. This year was even more unsettled as students transferred from four low-performing schools to other campuses through a new choice plan.

"The time line is pretty much the way it's always been," Walker said. "The bulk of hiring is going to be the middle of May until the second week of school starts."

The report The New Teacher Project's report recommends the following hiring charges for urban districts struggling to fill teacher vacancies with qualified candidates:

- Hire by May 1.

- Provide school-level placements.

- Require resigning or retiring teachers to notify the district by March 15.

- Develop earlier, shorter transfer processes for existing employee transfers covered by teacher union contracts.

- Develop and pass budgets earlier.

- Protect the hardest-to-staff schools from budget fluctuations.

- Begin hiring high-quality candidates in the greatest demand even in the face of uncertainty.

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