Principal Survey

DATE

«First_Name» «Last_Name»

«School»

«School_Street_Address»

«School_City», «School_State» «School_Zip»

Dear Principal,

As you know, your district is participating in Project RISE and your school was selected as a program school. Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), with our partners The New Teacher Group (TNTP) and Optimal Solutions Group (OSG), is conducting an evaluation of this program for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. As part of the study, we are gathering about you school’s staffing, teaching vacancies for the current school year, teacher recruitment, and teachers new to grade X.

As the principal of a program school, we ask that you complete the Principal Survey on Teacher Recruitment, Hiring, and Support. Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law. Additionally, no one at your school or in your district will see your responses. While your participation in this study is voluntary, it is very important that you complete the questionnaire.

We estimate the questionnaire will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

If you have any questions, please contact Kristina Rall at 866-608-8290, or by e-mail at krall@mathematica-mpr.com.

Thank you for your help with this important study.

Sincerely,

Nancy Carey, Ph.D.

Survey Director

OMB No.:

Approval Expires:

As part of the evaluation of the Talent Transfer Initiative (TTI), a federally funded recruitment and retention initiative, this questionnaire asks about your background, your school’s staffing, teaching vacancies for the current school year, teacher recruitment, and teachers new to grade X for school year 2009-2010.

We want you to know that:

1. This survey is voluntary, but your response is critical for producing valid and reliable data. You may skip any questions you do not wish to answer; however, we hope that you answer as many questions as you can. Your answers to questions will not affect your school’s eligibility for the Talent Transfer Initiative now or in the future and will not be shared with any members of the school administration or anyone else other than the researchers. Participation in the principal survey will not impose any risks to you as a respondent. If you have any questions about your rights as a research volunteer, you can contact Margo Campbell at Public/Private Ventures IRB, toll free 800-755-4778 x4446.

2. The U.S. Department of Education wants to protect the privacy of individuals who participate in surveys. All information you provide will be kept strictly confidential and used for research purposes only. Your answers will be combined with those from other surveys, and no information identifying individual principals or their schools will be released. 

Thank you very much for your help with this survey.

Please return the completed form to: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. 707 Alexander Road Building 3, Suite 304 Princeton, NJ 08540 ATTN:

If you have questions, please contact: Ms. Kristina Rall Phone: 866-608-8290 (toll free) FAX: 202-863-1763 E-mail: krall@mathematica-mpr.com

This survey is authorized by law: (1) Sections 171(b) and 173 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-279 (2002); and (2) Section 9601 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (Pub. L. 107-110).

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is xxxx-xxxx. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 30 minutes per respondent, including the time to review instructions, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collected. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20208.

INTRODUCTION

This survey is to be completed by the school principal or other school administrator who was responsible for teacher recruitment and/or hiring for the 2009-2010 school year. If you are not that person, please give the survey to that person in your school. Thank you.

S1. What is your current position at this school (2009-2010 school year)?

a. Principal 1 

b. Assistant or vice principal 2 

c. Other (Specify) 3 

S2. What was your position during the 2008-2009 school year?

a. Principal 1 

b. Assistant or vice principal 2 

c. Other (Specify) 3 

A. YOUR POSITION

A1. Including the 2009-2010 school year, how many years have you served as an administrator at any school?	|___|___|
A2. Including the 2009-2010 school year, how many years have you served as an administrator at this school?	|___|___|

B. RECRUITING, INTERVIEWING, AND HIRING FOR 2008-2009

We are interested in learning about how your school recruits, interviews, and hires external job candidates to fill teaching vacancies. By external job candidates, we mean those individuals applying for a classroom teaching position and not teaching in your school at the time.

B1. Please indicate the number of vacancies for which you needed to hire new classroom teachers for fall 2009. Record the total number of classroom teacher vacancies across all grades and then, specifically, for grade X.

a. |___|___| total classroom teacher vacancies in the school

b. |___|___| total classroom teacher vacancies in grade X

B2. Of the vacancies in grade X for fall 2009, how many arose in each of the following time periods? (Provide your best estimate.)

Time period vacancies arose	Number of grade X vacancies
a. Spring 2009 or earlier	|___|___|
b. Summer 2009 (after 2008-2009 school year ended and before 2009-2010 school year began)	|___|___|
c. Fall 2009 (after the 2009-2010 school year began)	|___|___|

Opinio instruction: total should match total from B1b

B3. Of the vacancies in grade X for fall 2009, indicate how many were created by each of the following reasons:

Reason for vacancy	Number of grade X vacancies
a. Teacher retired	|___|___|
b. Teacher changed grades	|___|___|
c. Teacher was promoted to non-teaching position in the school	|___|___|
d. Teacher transferred to another school	|___|___|
e. Teacher left school; future plans unknown	|___|___|
f. Student enrollment increased; new classroom created	|___|___|
g. Classroom-size-reduction initiative	|___|___|
h. Other (Specify)__________________________	|___|___|

Opinio instruction: total should match total from B1b

B4. Of the vacancies for grade X for fall 2009, indicate the number of vacancies filled by:

Means by which vacancy filled	Number of grade X vacancies
a. Hiring a teacher who is new to the district	|___|___|
b. Hiring a teacher from another school in the district	|___|___|
c. Moving a teacher from another grade	|___|___|
d. Using a substitute teacher	|___|___|
e. Vacancy was not filled	|___|___|
f. Other (Please specify)____________________________	|___|___|

Opinio instruction: total should match total from B1b

B5. How did you identify candidates to fill the grade X teaching vacancies in your school for the 2009-2010 school year? (Mark all that apply.)

a. Applications directly to school 1 

b. Referrals from district human resources department 2 

c. Referrals from other district staff 3 

d. Transfers through Talent Transfer Initiative (TTI) 4 

e. Job fairs 5 

f. Collaboration with local colleges and/or universities 6 

g. Personal and professional contacts 7 

h. Other (Please specify) 8 

i. None of the above 9 

B6. Please indicate the number of applicants considered for the 2009-2010 grade X vacancies in your school, the number of applicants interviewed, the number of applicants to whom you made an offer, and the number of applicants who accepted your offer.

Number

a. Applicants considered for grade X teaching position(s) |___|___|

b. Applicants interviewed |___|___|

c. Offers made |___|___|

d. Offers accepted |___|___|

Opinio instruction: If B6a AND B6b = 0, then skip to B8.

B7. For the 2009-2010 school year, who interviewed teacher candidates at your school?

MARK ALL THAT APPLY

a. District staff 1 

b. Principal 2 

c. Assistant or Vice Principal(s) 3 

d. Teachers in hiring grade 4 

e. School hiring committee 5 

f. Other (Please specify) 6 

B8. How much influence does each of the groups or individuals listed below have on the process of selecting and hiring new full-time classroom teachers at your school?

	No influence/ NA	Minor influence	Moderate influence	Major influence
a. State department of education or other state-level bodies	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. District school board	1 	2 	3 	4 
c. District staff	1 	2 	3 	4 
d. Principal	1 	2 	3 	4 
e. Assistant/Vice principal(s)	1 	2 	3 	4 
f. Curriculum specialists	1 	2 	3 	4 
g. Grade X teachers	1 	2 	3 	4 
h. All other teachers	1 	2 	3 	4 
i. Parent association or school advisory board	1 	2 	3 	4 

B9. What characteristics do you look for when hiring a classroom teacher?

From the list of characteristics below, select the three (3) that you feel are the most important when hiring teachers by writing the appropriate letter in the boxes below. If any characteristic that you consider important is not included in this list, write it in the “Other, specify” option.

1 |___| FIRST most important characteristic

2 |___| SECOND most important characteristic

3 |___| THIRD most important characteristic

a. Content knowledge

b. Willingness to do something extra beyond classroom teaching

c. Willingness to work as part of a team

d. Classroom management skills

e. Superior teaching skills

f. Ability and willingness to teach different grade levels

g. Displays a passion for teaching

h. Cares about children

i. Years of classroom teaching experience

j. Other (Please specify)_____________________________

C. PERFORMANCE OF RECENTLY HIRED/ASSIGNED TEACHERS IN GRADE X

C1. What is the total number of grade X classroom teachers at this school? |___|___|

We are interested in your professional judgment about teachers in this school, particularly the newest teachers. All information you provide will be kept strictly confidential and used for research purposes only. Your answers will be combined with those of other respondents and no information identifying individual teachers, principals, or their schools will be released.

To answer the next [number of] questions, please think first about the MOST RECENTLY HIRED teacher at your school who is currently teaching grade X. Once you have answered for that teacher, you will have the opportunity to answer the same questions for the X grade teacher who was hired PRIOR to that teacher. You will be prompted to answer these questions for up to 5 teachers.

[Opinio loop starts here]

C2. Is Teacher 1: MARK ONLY ONE

A returning grade X teacher (taught grade X at this school in 2008-2009) 1 

A returning teacher from another grade reassigned to grade X

(taught another grade level at this school in 2008-2009) 2 

An experienced grade X teacher who transferred to this school from another school

In the same district for the 2009-2010 year 3 

An experienced grade X teacher who transferred to this district

for the 2009-2010 year 4 

A teacher who is new to the profession 5 

C3. Based on Teacher 1’s performance from the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year through the end of December, please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.

	MARK ONE BOX IN EACH ROW
	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree
a. This teacher is demonstrating leadership skills with peers and other school staff	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. This teacher is contributing to school activities outside of his/her own classroom, including leading student groups or assisting in afterschool student activities	1 	2 	3 	4 
c. This teacher is an asset to the school	1 	2 	3 	4 

C4. Please indicate whether Teacher 1 has any of the following available for his or her classes or students?

MARK ALL THAT APPLY

a. Reading specialist/literacy coach 1 

b. Math specialist/coach 2 

c. Resource/special education teacher 3 

d. Paraprofessional or aide 4 

e. Mentor assigned by the school or district 5 

[Go to Teacher 2—loop through up to 5 teachers.]

C5. To what extent are teachers who are new to this school during 2009-2010 provided with the following types of support? In Column 1, indicate the approximate number of minutes per WEEK of each type of support that NOVICE (first-year) teachers receive. If teachers receive none of a particular type of support, write in 0. In Column 2, report the same information for teachers who are NEW TO YOUR SCHOOL this year. In column 3, report the number of minutes for teachers who are NEW TO THE DISTRICT.

Support for new or transfer teachers	Novice teachers	New to school teachers	New to district teachers
a. Mentoring	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|
b. Routine visits from principal	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|
c. Routine visits from Curriculum specialist or veteran teacher	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|
d. Oversight by district administration	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|
e. Other (Please specify)	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|	|__|__|__|

C6. Which ONE of the following statements best describes how students were assigned to classrooms/teachers in grade X for 2009-2010?

Students were assigned: MARK ONE BOX ONLY

a. At random (or similar method to ensure balance of academic level, gender, and/or behavioral problems) 1 

b. By matching student needs to teachers’ specific abilities 2 

c. By creating homogeneous groups based on ability or course difficulty 3 

d. By “looping” or a related approach to keep previous year student rosters mostly intact 4 

e. Other (Please specify) 5 

D. SCHOOL CLIMATE AND TEACHER COLLEGIALITY

The following questions ask you about the professional climate at your school since the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, particularly with respect to the relationships between teachers.

D1. Please rate collaboration among the teachers in your school:

	Strong	Adequate	Somewhat inadequate	Inadequate
a. Within grade X	1 	2 	3 	4 
b. School-wide	1 	2 	3 	4 

D2. How would you compare your school’s grade X collegiality now with the school’s grade X collegiality during…

	Improved	No major change	Declined
a. The 2008-2009 school year?	1 	2 	3 
b. The beginning of the 2009-2010 school year?	1 	2 	3 

D3. How would you compare the school-wide collegiality now with the school-wide collegiality during…

	Improved	No major change	Declined
a. The 2008-2009 school year?	1 	2 	3 
b. The beginning of the 2009-2010 school year?	1 	2 	3 

Name of person completing this form

Phone number in case we have questions

Thank you for taking time to participate in this survey.