New Study of Teacher Hiring Policies in Milwaukee Shows Success of School-based Hiring, But Forced Placements Still Hamper Efforts to Attract and Retain Quality Teachers
Analysis by The New Teacher Project Shows Opportunities to Alleviate Teacher Dissatisfaction by Building on Current Staffing Reforms
MILWAUKEE, WI – According to a new study, the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) have made great strides in their joint efforts to create a more effective teacher hiring and evaluation model. However, the school system’s current school staffing and teacher transfer practices continue to cause dissatisfaction among many teachers. The study, conducted by The New Teacher Project (TNTP), a national non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of teacher quality in America’s public schools, indicated that such shortcomings hamper Milwaukee’s efforts to build, support, and retain a high-quality teaching force, especially in its highest-need schools.
The New Teacher Project’s extensive study was funded by the Joyce Foundation and conducted with the cooperation of both MPS and the MTEA. TNTP staff conducted a briefing for members of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors at last night’s public meeting. The scope of the study included a detailed survey that drew over 2,000 responses from 5,000 MPS teachers, a survey of MPS principals, an in-depth examination of the MTEA contract with MPS, and interviews with school principals and district administrators. The organization’s final analysis shows that:
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Although Milwaukee’s school interview teams (including an administrator, three teachers, and a parent) are effective and popular, 40 percent of teacher vacancies continue to be filled through forced assignment by central Human Resources (HR), without the consent of teachers or schools. Assignment by human resources is widely unpopular with teachers;
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Milwaukee’s “incompatibility transfer” process, which is designed to allow teachers to leave an undesirable placement at almost any time, is unsuccessful and regularly abused, despite best intentions;
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The Teacher Evaluation and Mentoring (TEAM) process for supporting struggling teachers is well regarded but rarely used, and results in the “passing around” of a small group of poor performers among schools; and
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MPS does not compete effectively with surrounding school districts for the best new teachers because of a late hiring timeline, restrictions on the participation of new teachers in the hiring process, and complicated HR processes.
Timothy Daly, President of The New Teacher Project, praised MPS and MTEA for working together to institute the popular mutual-consent school interview teams, but emphasized the importance of respecting the consent of both teachers and schools in all teacher placements. “In a number of districts we have studied, hiring systems based on the principle of mutual consent have proved more satisfying to both teachers and principals than more restrictive systems that involve central forced assignment or slotting,” said Daly. “In Milwaukee, teachers who are slotted are more than twice as likely as teachers placed through the school interview team process to say they intend to move schools again the following year. Worst of all, Milwaukee’s highest-need schools are the ones to receive the most forced-placement teachers. In other words, schools that are already struggling are the ones that have the hardest time assembling effective instructional teams.”
TNTP’s report praised MPS and the union for collaborating to design the TEAM process for working with struggling teachers, which involves intensive peer support and counseling. However, the study also shows that the process is not mandatory and many of the referred teachers simply use the “incompatibility transfer” to leave their schools instead. Of more than 5,000 teachers in MPS, only about 20 – well under one percent – are currently engaged in the TEAM process. Unfortunately, teachers who file for incompatibility transfers are generally dissatisfied with the outcome and are twice as likely to transfer schools again the following year. Again, this problem disproportionately affects Milwaukee’s highest-need schools as teachers exercising incompatibility transfers are slotted wherever there are available vacancies, regardless of whether schools wish to accept the teachers.
The New Teacher Project stressed the seriousness of the problems facing the district, and urged MPS and MTEA to continue to work collaboratively to find solutions to these pressing issues. “We think this is a good report and we are committed to working with the MTEA to implement recommendations that will improve teacher quality in our schools,” commented William Andrekopoulos, Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
The New Teacher Project’s full analysis and an executive summary are available on the organization’s website, at http://www.tntp.org/publications/other_publications.html.
