How to Hire High-Quality Staff to Help Children Thrive
Research project highlights best practices in Head Start
By Victoria Jones, Senior Manager of Data, National Head Start Association
In response to NHSA’s Effective Practice survey, almost 80% of Head Start practitioners shared that hiring high-quality staff is a challenge for their program. To be more specific, finding candidates with the right credentials and strong experience are the two greatest hurdles.
So, how can we help? Based on the findings of a three-year research project conducted by Bellwether Education Partners, Leading by Exemplar, NHSA has created a series of one-page resources highlighting some best practices in Head Start. One of them is on this exact topic: Teacher Credentials and Selection.
The Leading by Exemplar work focused on five Head Start programs, who each use unique strategies for hiring and selecting the staff they need in their program. As a summary, we’ve distilled their knowledge down to a few examples of best practices in staff selection and hiring to share.
Best practices
1. You don’t always have to hire staff with the right credentials.
If you find an otherwise strong candidate, such as a teacher with good experience but without a BA, it may make sense to hire the teacher and support them in achieving their degree. Experience, competency, and openness to being coached are important components of a strong candidate, aside from their credentials.
2. Lack of teaching experience isn’t necessarily a negative.
While candidates without teaching experience may often get passed over during the hiring process, they could still be good candidates if they have other strong qualities. In particular, it might be an advantage if they are open to training and learning the style of your program.
3. Consider “testing” potential hires in the classroom.
Degrees and experience are indicators of classroom performance, but not evidence in and of themselves. You might consider having candidates do an in-classroom task during their interview, including receiving and incorporating feedback or coaching, to see if they’re a good fit for your program.
4. If possible, you might want to maintain a hiring pool.
Pre-screening and maintaining a list of qualified candidates for common jobs can reduce the amount of time it takes to fill a position when an opening comes up.
If you want to read more about these ideas, or view our full series of one-pagers, check out our page here. If you have other ideas, leave them below in the comments!
Victoria Jones is NHSA’s Senior Manager of Data. Victoria supports the Head Start field’s efforts to advance child and family outcomes by helping Head Start programs move towards a culture of continuous quality improvement. Her portfolio includes leading the Data Design Initiative, working on the Parent Gauge team, and contributing to other projects that directly support practitioners in the field.
