There are many great ways to conduct teacher interviews. Here are three simple interview tips that focus on finding star teachers.
- Experience is overrated, ask about scenarios instead of theory or beliefs.
- Create a scale for each question to make evaluations during the interview.
- Ask your current star teachers the interview questions.
If you pose scenario questions, teachers with great experience will be able to pull from that. Teachers without experience can showcase their problem-solving.
If you create a scale for each question to use during the interview, you’ll be less likely to subject your decision-making to non-essential factors.
After a day of sitting through interviews, it’s easy to forget the nuances of each interview, but a scale for each question forces you and your committee to record their judgments during the process.
Read more on groupthink and biases.
Finally, asking your star teachers the interview questions beforehand allows you to calibrate your scale. These are the types of teachers you’re trying to find. You know how they perform. Use their responses to shape how you use the scales (they should be the highest-rated).
On the flip-side, how do you keep you star teachers from leaving?
Here are two resources that can help: Preventing Teacher Burnout (a book review) and Keeping Star Teachers (a podcast).