District Recruitment Protocol

APPENDIX C.1
District Recruitment Protocol

MTRP DISTRICT RECRUITMENT PROTOCOL

This document shall be used to help determine prospective school districts’ eligibility for
participation in the Master Teacher Residency Program (MTRP) for 2009-2010. Whenever
possible, the information shall be gathered using publicly available information, such as school
district websites and federal datasets such as the Common Core of Data. Other data will be
gathered by telephone with district officials using this document as a guide.
Data requirements for the MTRP
• Does the district test students annually in core subjects (mathematics and
reading/English language arts) at least once per year in every grade that is under
consideration (e.g. grades 3 through 8)?
• Can the district supply four consecutive years of student data with test scores and
background characteristics (school lunch program eligibility, special education status,
date of birth, race/ethnicity)? Are the student ID codes unique and specific within
and across years?
• Can students be linked to individual teachers by subject?
• Can teachers be linked from year to year with a unique ID code?
Minimum size
• Does the district have enough potential high-performing teachers in the specified
grade levels? We require a minimum of 50 teachers per vacancy within grade/subject
area) so that the top 20 percent will yield 10 candidates per vacancy.
• Does the district have enough schools in the specified grade levels/grade
configurations? If we require 10 treatment and 10 control schools, then we will need
at least 20 low-performing schools and at least 40 additional schools. These can be
divided between elementary and middle schools.
Need for the MTRP intervention
• How do teacher transfer policies work in the district? Do they allow teachers to
move into higher performing schools as they gain seniority?
• What is the correlation in the district between teacher quality and school average test
scores in the targeted grade levels and subjects? Is there a perception by district
officials of an imbalance that needs to be corrected?
• Does the district have existing programs that offer incentives or additional pay for
teachers to work in low-performing schools? If so, are they recruitment or retention
incentives? Are they tied to subject areas? What requirements do teachers face to
receive the payment (e.g. must they have a certain credential or years of experience)?
• What past efforts has the district undertaken to address imbalances in the distribution
of teacher quality in the district?
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Other feasibility issues
• What role will the following stakeholders play in the district’s decision to participate
in the MTRP and cooperate: school board, superintendent, senior leadership (human
resources, research and evaluation, teaching and learning), teacher’s
association/union, school principals, other?
• If the program participation decision must be negotiated with the union, at what stage
is the contract/bargaining for the district? What steps must be taken to bring the idea
to the union?
• What is the process and timeline for obtaining permission to use student and teacher
data required for the study?

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