on the numbers or rating generated by its new automated system. “Even with all of the technology that’s at our avail, we still rely heavily on face-to-face interviewing and candidates’ sample lesson plans before we make the final determination,” she said. “We view the technology piece as a viable management tool and just one piece of a bigger puzzle.”
Gaining an Edge
Two years into using TeacherMatch as an applicant-assessment tool, Distinctive Schools of Chicago has found new ways to make the most of its technology investment. Take professional development, for example. According to Joseph Wise, chief education officer, PD for the organization’s five schools (which serve 3,000 students) has gotten easier thanks to TeacherMatch’s personalization capabilities.
“It gives us a better shot at creating the most appropriate professional development opportunities and coaching for our teachers,” he explained. If, for example, a teacher ranks extremely high on the “classroom management” scale, said Wise, why would you put extra time into that person’s professional development when the teacher in the next classroom needs more enrichment in that area?
Distinctive Schools also uses the assessment tool to clue teachers into their own strengths and weaknesses. Once hired, candidates are given their TeacherMatch assessments to review, giving them insights into their own capabilities and allowing the district to hone future professional development opportunities around those results.
Wise said Distinctive Schools is also using TeacherMatch for its original purpose, and is seeing good results. New candidates spend about an hour applying online and taking the related survey, and Wise’s team receives the color-coded results of those activities. Like a stoplight, the scale ranges from green to yellow to red. Using this scale, Wise said, “We can quickly select all of the green candidates and get an edge on hiring over another competitive school district. That expedites our ability to staff up with the best potential candidates in the pool.”