This case study of one "no-excuses" charter management organization (CMO) uses teacher surveys and interviews with principals, central office staff, and teachers to examine how a realistic job preview is enacted during the hiring process, and how newly hired teachers perceive their fit with the job and the organization before and after starting the position. Findings show a strong emphasis on honestly and clearly communicating expectations during the hiring process. Consequently, teachers' perceptions of the job and the organization were initially high at the time of hire. However, these perceptions decreased most significantly in views of student discipline, a key contextual feature of the no-excuses model.
Keywords: charter school; programs; discipline policies; subjects; principals; urban education; school reform; teacher candidates
The United States spends billions of dollars replacing departing teachers each year, and much of this cost can be attributed to hiring, placing, and training teachers to work in their new schools ([
Unfortunately, much of the work on teacher hiring describes how various resource, knowledge, and policy inefficiencies in "urban intensive" and "urban emergent" locales ([
New studies are beginning to look at high-functioning schools and districts with strong teacher selection methods ([
This study addresses these issues and builds on prior research in three ways. First, using a mixed-methods approach to analyze surveys of newly hired teachers, screening tools, and in-depth interviews with principals, recruiters, and teachers, it links perceptions about fit and realistic job preview before starting teaching at a CMO and compares it with teachers' actual experience on the job. This approach gives insight into how and why changes in perceived fit did or did not occur, and triangulates multiple perspectives on the hiring process. Second, it goes beyond looking at the relationships between organizational fit and job satisfaction or retention, and examines the specific aspects of fit that may matter most depending on the organizational context. Third, it sheds light on the process of giving a realistic job preview and the kinds of benefits and challenges that leaders and teachers experience when determining fit.
I find that recruiters and principals placed a strong emphasis on giving a job preview that clearly communicated expectations through the hiring process, even "downselling" the organization to ensure candidates' expectations were realistic. Consequently, in surveys and interview data collected before they started the job, teachers initially rated their perceived fit and clarity of the hiring process as high or very high. Midyear surveys showed a significant drop in perceptions of fit in a number of areas. The sharpest changes were in areas of person–organization fit, specifically, input in school-wide decision-making and views of student discipline. In teacher interviews, strong leadership and a positive staff culture were cited as the most important reasons for high satisfaction, and changes in leadership (which brought changes in expectations) alongside unanticipated issues with school-wide student disciplinary methods were key reasons why some teachers' expectations before starting their position did not match with their experience once on the job.
District hiring is often described as a highly centralized, standardized process with little input from school principals and staffing policies that gives priority in job placement to senior teachers with tenure ([
Rather than studying the dysfunctions of urban schools, scholars are beginning to look at coherent, structured hiring systems in urban schools and central offices. Some of these studies describe "information rich" selection tools including extended school visits, meetings with a wide array of stakeholders involved in the selection process, and a teaching demonstration paired with an extensive debrief ([
CMO central offices and school leaders also devote significant effort to ensure teacher–organization fit before making an offer to teach at a CMO ([
Charter schools seek teachers who are well aligned with their unique areas of focus, which makes determining and predicting organizational fit especially critical to teacher satisfaction and the success of the school ([
Although it is important to recognize that CMOs vary, fit is fundamentally important to the teacher selection process in large, high-profile "no-excuses" CMOs such as the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), in large part, because their organizational models are highly defined (even "prescriptive"), and shared values/practices are believed to produce student achievement ([
Teach for America (TFA) teachers make up between a third and a half of teachers in some high-performing CMOs, in part, because TFA and CMO leaders see a mutual fit based on the similarity between their organizational cultures and because TFA represents a reliable staffing pipeline to replace departing teachers ([
Realistic job previews are a critical factor for determining fit. They serve to communicate organizational culture and expectations, and this process can also lead to two-way communication and clarification about working conditions and role expectations ([
Although research describes the steps in the hiring process that organizations take to give a realistic job preview (e.g., [
- Research Question 1 (RQ1): How do recruiters and school leaders perceive and enact realistic job preview?
- Research Question 2 (RQ2): How did teachers perceive organizational fit and realistic job preview?
- Research Question 3 (RQ3): Why and in which areas did perceptions of fit change after teachers started the job?
It is important to explain widespread critiques of CMOs given the students they seek to serve, their rapid growth in the last decade, and the schools and teachers they have displaced in metropolitan areas such as New Orleans. Researchers note that no-excuses CMOs represent a growing proportion of schools in urban areas as more money and attention flows toward "academically successful" networks that explicitly seek to serve minoritized, low-income students ([
In particular, critics of no-excuses organizations argue that strict and uncompromising disciplinary expectations represent a form of cultural racism: privileging White, middle-class norms over the cultural strengths of students of color ([
Several recent studies look at teacher enactment and sensemaking of these practices. [
This study examines a large CMO with 10 schools in a northeastern state at the time of the study (2016-2017), with plans to grow by five to 10 schools in the region over the next several years. The CMO can be classified as a "no-excuses" organization because of its explicit focus on commonly identified features of this charter school model such as high expectations for both academics and behavior, longer school days and school years, frequent observations of teachers to give feedback, intensive tutoring, and student assessment data use to drive instruction ([
More than 90% of the students in this charter network are African American or Hispanic and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Their hiring process involved a principal at each school and three recruiters at the central office who are responsible for "cultivating" potential candidates and providing information about the organization, doing an initial screening for fit, and working with three to four principals each to understand their specific needs and preferred teacher qualities. The CMO was purposively selected because organizational representatives identified their hiring process as carefully refined, with open communication and sharing of hiring practices taking place between various stakeholders in the process.
This study uses a holistic, single-case study design with the CMO as the primary unit of analysis ([
One goal of this study is to determine how attitudes and perceptions of fit may change, so a single-case design is also appropriate because there is a longitudinal element, and points of comparison within the case are being studied at two or more different points in time ([
Teacher surveys were distributed to all new teacher hires (n = 83) and collected anonymously by organizational representatives; 76 completed it for a response rate of 91%. As part of an applied research process aimed at providing the organization with feedback on hiring processes, I advised central office staff to use survey items validated by past research on teacher hiring and the role of realistic job preview, P-O fit, and P-J fit.[
An organizational representative also sent an email to school leaders and recruiters informing them of the research and inviting them to contact me. This led to interviews between June and August 2016 with six school leaders (out of 10 schools) responsible for making the final decision on teacher hires, and all three recruiters. Each principal was either in their second or third year and had served as either an assistant principal or participated in the CMO's year-long leadership development program prior to becoming principal. Finally, I collected four central office screening documents: a resume rubric, video and phone interview questions and a rubric, and a document describing competencies being assessed in these interviews.
The same items on P-O and P-J fit were distributed by the organization in November to December 2016, once new hires had experienced the job firsthand, and this midyear survey had a much lower response rate (31%). To address RQ3, I interviewed the same six principals and six teachers once career decisions were made and the school year concluded (in June to August 2017). An organizational representative also used a unique identifier code allowing them to add administrative data to the survey data, including demographic characteristics and individual decisions to stay or leave their position. Over the course of the year, 31% of respondents to the new hire survey switched to a different school or left the organization, and 69% stayed.
To answer RQ1 and RQ2 with the survey data, I used SPSS to generate basic descriptive statistics on average ratings of P-O and P-J fit as well as realistic job preview. To answer the third question, I ran a paired t test that linked teachers' responses in the new hire survey to the midyear survey to see whether there were differences between an individual's rating of fit before starting the job compared with how they rated fit midyear.
To address the low midyear survey response rate and possible nonresponse bias, I looked for individual schools that had very low response rates (e.g., only one or two teachers responded out of nine to 10). Three schools met the criteria, and I took out all the teachers in these schools (n = 28) from the overall sample. This improved the matched response rate for the paired t test in the seven remaining schools to 48%. As a check for biased results in which respondents to the midyear survey might be disproportionately dissatisfied compared with nonrespondents, I used a t test to compare average fit ratings and looked at proportions of leavers to stayers in both groups. There were no differences and the proportion of leavers was almost identical in the new sample of seven schools compared with the original sample of 10 schools, as well as between midyear survey respondents and nonrespondents, enhancing the validity of the interpretations. Although generalizing results to the larger teacher sample is not possible, the sizable gap between initial rating and midyear ratings of items such as fit with discipline, taken together with interview data and prior research about no-excuses CMOs, supports the face validity of findings.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim. To start, I read through all the interview data and central office screening documents, then wrote analytic memos summarizing information for each interview to develop deep familiarity with the data. These summaries aligned with the research questions. Data from interviews and documents were coded using a closed (or deductive), open, axial, and selective process ([
There are important limitations to keep in mind when interpreting results from this study. First, I was only able to interview a relatively small number of teachers using a convenience sample. In contrast to quantitative work, qualitative work does not intend to generalize across all participants, rather it helps provide possible explanations (not all the explanations) for why and how a phenomenon occurs ([
Second, a lower average satisfaction with fit rating might be expected in the middle of the year compared with their fit ratings before starting the job. However, the utility in this analysis is as much about identifying which aspects of fit experienced the sharpest changes as it is about whether there were differences at all. Third, these data only capture a snapshot of 1 year at one CMO, and CMOs vary in their performance and approach to instruction and culture ([
In general, recruiters and principals described a highly defined and semi-standardized hiring process with room for independent or collaborative decision-making discretion. They uniformly agreed that it was critically important to be as realistic and specific as possible about aspects of the job that were related to fit within the organization and in their schools.
For example, they emphasized the importance of being realistic when it came to working hours and the process and frequency of instructional coaching, as well as the expectation that "your door is always open." Recruiters emphasized specific characteristics of the school that the candidate would work in, for instance, one recruiter made sure to explain what working in a "turnaround" school meant:
I just like to be really, really, really honest and it has been pretty successful for the most part. The school that I was working with incidentally was the turnaround school and so I was there and open about what that meant. So that meant that there's going to be even longer hours, that meant that there's going to be a culture shift, and that some people were going to be invested and some people weren't.
Although recruiters touched on specific aspects of the school, they also stressed the general organizational culture, in particular, the extended working and professional development hours. A different recruiter explained,
We're asking people to come into work at seven twenty and not leave until four thirty. Five days a week. That's not including the stuff that they have to do at home. If that's a flag, if that's something that you don't like, if that's something that's not a good fit, then I'd rather not waste their time and our kid's time if that's not what you want to do. At the end of every interview, I make sure that I say [this]... I've had people be like, "You know what? I really appreciate your candidness and honesty, and I thought about it, I won't be able to do it."
This straightforward approach to communicating organizational expectations allowed candidates an opportunity to assess their fit at an early stage.
All principals also strongly believed in benefits of giving a highly realistic job preview and took the information sharing a step further, preferring to give close approximations of what the job would feel like. For example, one explained,
Principal: [During the demonstration lesson] I always just try and live coach them in front of students and [teachers] that are there. It's important for me to see their reaction on the spot.
Author: They don't know this is going to happen, right?
Principal: No. Exactly. That's usually a telling moment. From then on in, are they making the change? For instance, if I ask them to ask the students a particular question, do I notice that, following that moment, is their questioning improving? Then, in the interview, I'm giving them more feedback on their lesson—You can usually see a person's reaction to all of this feedback, even in the interview. Hopefully telling them how they would react to it in the real school environment.
This leader noted both how the teacher reacts to the feedback and whether they implemented the suggestions. Another principal took this a step further, describing how she would have them practice the feedback and role-play the suggestions during the interview, and how this was consistent with the coaching culture of the school.
Finally, principals felt it was critical to be extremely specific not just about what was expected instructionally but also about the perceived happiness of staff, the intensity of working hours, and student discipline. For example, when candidates seemed pleased with how "well-behaved" students were, principals made sure to address this, as one noted: "[I tell them] it took a lot of work to get there. You're not going to walk into that." When asked whether they ever shied away from sharing information about the intensity of the job for fear of scaring away candidates, one noted: "The opposite. If I'm sensing hesitation, then I'll really go hard on all the different things that are expected of you." Others also frequently did this, and one described the strategy as "downselling."
In general, recruiters and school leaders tried to be as clear and specific as possible about what would be expected as teachers in each school, going out of their way to give and measure reactions to realistic job preview and allowing candidates to get a clear sense of whether the school and organization was right for them.
Teachers rated their initial fit as very high across the P-O and P-J fit survey measures, and they gave similarly high ratings with respect to the clarity of the hiring process. Interviews confirmed that teachers generally felt the organization and school (particularly school leaders) were a good fit, with some expressing reservations about the school culture in terms of workload and expectations for student discipline. They also reported having open and honest conversations and experiences of what to expect particularly during the interview, demo lesson, and debrief.
Ratings of realistic job preview and P-O/P-J fit were uniformly high, averaging between 5.11 and 6.53 on a scale of 7 (see Table 1).
Graph
Table 1. Perceived Fit with Job, Organization, and Realistic Job Preview.
Variable New hire survey Fit with job My job matches my subject matter knowledge and expertise 76 6.45 0.68 My job matches my subject matter interests 76 6.51 0.76 My job matches other skills and talents I have 76 6.34 0.81 My job matches the grade level(s) I prefer to teach 76 6.28 1.05 My job matches the type of student population I would prefer to teach 76 6.63 0.67 Fit with organization My job matches my own educational philosophy 76 6.51 0.66 My job matches the amount of autonomy I would like to have as a teacher 76 6.05 0.96 My job matches my views on student discipline 76 6.07 1.09 My job matches the amount of collaboration or teamwork I would like with colleagues 76 6.50 0.68 My job matches the amount of input or influence I would like to have on school-wide decisions 76 6.01 1.01 My job matches the amount of input or influence I would like to have on department or grade-level decisions 76 5.96 1.01 Realistic job preview The hiring process provided me a clear picture of what the teachers are like at the school and whether I might enjoy working with them 76 6.36 0.92 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of what the students are like at the school and whether I might enjoy working with them 76 6.32 0.94 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of the principal's leadership style 76 6.04 1.22 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of the curriculum I will be teaching 76 5.11 1.43 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of what my teaching assignment will be (i.e., subjects, grade levels, number of classes, other duties) 76 5.68 1.40 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of the support that the school would provide to me 76 6.09 1.06 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of how much autonomy I would have as a teacher at the school 76 5.70 1.23 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of the opportunities I might have to help make important school-wide decisions 76 5.46 1.50 The hiring process provided me a clear picture of the school's educational philosophy 76 6.53 0.62
1 Items were measured on a 1 to 7 Likert-type scale, with 1 representing strongly disagree and a 7 representing strongly agree.
This suggests that, on average, teachers who accepted the position had high perceived fit and a sense of clarity about the job after the interview process.
Interestingly, the areas that were rated lower (and had substantial variation) in this study were around job preview of specific aspects of the job that may not have been adequately covered during the interview process, such as the curriculum they would teach (M = 5.11, SD = 1.43), duties related to their specific teaching assignment (M = 5.68, SD = 1.40), or whether teachers would have input on school-wide decision-making (M = 5.46, SD = 1.50). Indeed, recruiters and leaders did not emphasize these when explaining how they gave a realistic sense of what the job would be like. Instead, they typically described being up front about expectations related to school culture (e.g., instructional coaching, working hours, collaboration, PD).
When asked whether and why the school and organization were a good fit, interviewed teachers generally agreed and expressed excitement about the prospect of being coached instructionally, being led by an inspirational principal who valued teachers, a culture of "high expectations," and the collegiality of teachers. For example, several teachers commented about the process of feedback given during the debrief. As Joseph, a brand new teacher, explained,
I thought [the role playing] was great. It shows you that they not only cared about me but also cared about me getting in right for the students... and not just saying "Okay this is the stuff you can improve on." It was like "No, let's see how you respond to feedback." I thought that was very important.
Others felt excited about the group of colleagues they would work with and tied this to their ability to learn, as Allen explained: "There's a lot of folks around me who can push me in a direction that I think would be a good thing for me long term. In terms of professional growth." He also explained how he had learned so much already from numerous conversations with his principal about how he would structure his brand new teaching assignment in a new start-up school. Like Allen, other teachers were excited by the prospect of working for an inspirational principal. Iris described a moment when her principal came into the cafeteria and the kids "gravitated to her energy." She added, "She's awesome. She had such a presence about her. It was just so organized, the way the kids lined up, walked the stairs. I couldn't believe it." In this case, part of the admiration stemmed from the orderly atmosphere, something Iris described as "just the way I like to run my own classroom."
Teachers felt that principals and recruiters were very up front with them in conversations about what to expect. Often, as in the example above with Joseph, this occurred during the interview and the debrief conversation with principals. Sometimes, it took place during walkthroughs, tours, or even open houses, where Julie explained, "a lot of teachers were there and talking [to them], it seemed like communication and consistency [from leadership] were there. Everyone knew what was expected of them."
However, some also shared feelings of apprehension after making sense of what was expected. Jennifer and Iris were older and more experienced, and both were worried about the expected changes in their workload. Jennifer explained, "I was working really hard in my [previous school], but the expectations were really low... I'm ready for a new challenge but at the same time, I'm scared about it."
The other reservation involved student discipline. After a conversation with his principal about starting the new school, Allen said, "I don't think teachers are going to get a lot of leeway in terms of what classrooms should look like." He elaborated,
I think the culture system is intense... it's very regimented from top to bottom, from beginning to end. I know the plan for the school is to do silent hallways, at least for the first year or two. Then slowly move away from it seventh and eighth grade, which I think is good developmentally. Eighth graders shouldn't be silent in the hallway. I think that's oppressive.
Although Allen had reservations about the "regimented" discipline, he expected them to move away from it eventually, and trusted his principal due to their repeated conversations.
Principals and recruiters worked to communicate expectations for the job in a realistic manner, and Year 2 interviews showed that satisfaction with the job decision did not change for four of the six teachers, who rated their satisfaction similarly before starting the job and at the end of their first year at the CMO (see Table 2).
Graph
Table 2. Teacher Interview Participant Demographics and Satisfaction Ratings.
Role Pseudonym Satisfaction at hire Satisfaction post Year 11 Race Years teaching TFA affiliation Age Gender Prior position Teacher 1 Jennifer 4 1 White 8 No 31 Female Traditional school Teacher 2 Iris 5 3 Black 2 Yes 33 Female Standalone charter Teacher 3 Candice 5 5 White 3 Yes 26 Female CMO Teacher 4 Allen 4 4 White 2 Yes 26 Male Standalone charter Teacher 5 Joseph 5 4.5 Black 0 No 24 Male Outside of education Teacher 6 Julie 4 4 Hispanic 3 Yes 24 Female Standalone charter
- 2 Note. TFA = Teach for America; CMO = charter management organization.
- 3 In the Year 2 interview, teachers were asked to rate their perceived satisfaction at the time they were hired and to rate their current satisfaction with their job after that first-year teaching. Ratings are out of a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being most satisfied.
Survey results gave broader insight into patterns of change, especially regarding the areas with the largest changes. Using a paired samples t test to look at changes in individual ratings, respondents rated perceived fit lower, on average, in the midyear survey compared with their responses on the new hire survey (see Table 3).
Graph
Table 3. Paired Sample t Test Comparing Perceived Fit.
Survey scores New hire survey Midyear survey Average scores of match 6.34 5.32 4.32 20 (0.61) (1.10) Match with expertise 6.33 6.24 0.57 20 (0.66) (0.83) Match with subject matter interests 6.48 6.05 1.37 20 (0.75) (1.47) Match with talents 6.29 5.76 1.56 20 (0.71) (1.45) Match with preferred grade level 6.48 5.43 3.44 20 (0.81) (1.80) Match with preferred student type 6.67 5.62 3.07 20 (0.48) (1.60) Match with educational philosophy 6.48 5.14 3.57 20 (0.68) (1.74) Match with autonomy 6.33 5.05 3.58 20 (0.80) (1.56) Match of views of student discipline 6.05 4.00 4.50 20 (1.02) (2.05) Match of desired collaboration 6.52 5.33 3.63 20 (0.75) (1.53) Input on school-wide decisions 6.05 4.62 3.03 20 (1.16) (1.90) Input on grade-level decisions 6.10 5.29 1.80 20 (1.04) (1.74)
- 4 Note. n = 26. Standard deviations appear in parentheses below means.
- 5 p ≤.05.
In terms of teachers' subject matter expertise, interests, and talents, there was a small and statistically insignificant drop in their sense of fit. There were much larger, statistically significant decreases in P-J fit in the area of student composition and in several areas of P-O fit: autonomy, input into decision-making, level of collaboration, and organizational philosophy. These differences were largest for teachers' views on student discipline (the largest average decrease from 6.05 to 4.00), classroom autonomy, and school-wide input.
An additional t test of differences in average fit and preview ratings between stayers and leavers in the new hire survey found no significant differences between these two groups (differences in means only ranged from 0.05 to 0.40). This suggests that those who left the organization appeared as satisfied initially about the job compared with stayers.
To see whether leavers were more dissatisfied than stayers in particular areas, I calculated the average decrease from an individual's response in the new hire survey compared with that individual's response in the midyear survey. I then used a t test to see whether differences between these decreases were significant (see Table 4). The largest and most significant difference between stayers compared with leavers was around the match with student discipline, with leavers rating this three scales lower on average (e.g., if they rated a 6 out of 7, they would rate that item a 3) than they had at the beginning of the year, and nearly two scales lower compared with those who stayed. Interestingly, the other significant difference was around perceived match in talent, suggesting that stayers felt more efficacious than leavers. Despite the lower response rate in the midyear survey, the proportion of leavers in respondents to the midyear survey (27%) was similar to the proportion of leavers in the overall sample (31%). This provides some evidence that these average decreases were not largely driven by disproportionately dissatisfied teachers responding to the midyear survey.
Graph
Table 4. t Test for Changes in Fit by Retention.
Variable Average decline for participants Group by retention Stayer Leaver Changes in average match scores 26 −0.97 0.98 19 −0.69 0.63 7 −1.71 1.39 2.61 24 Changes in match of expertise 26 −0.19 0.75 19 −0.11 0.74 7 −0.43 0.79 0.98 24 Changes in match of interest 26 −0.42 1.30 19 −0.11 0.57 7 −1.29 2.22 1.39 6 Changes in match of talent 26 −0.65 1.41 19 −0.32 1.00 7 −1.57 1.99 2.15 24 Changes in match of grade level 26 −0.88 1.34 19 −0.89 1.49 7 −0.86 0.90 −0.06 24 Changes in match of student type 26 −0.88 1.45 19 −0.58 1.39 7 −1.71 1.38 1.85 24 Changes in match of philosophy 26 −1.35 1.55 19 −0.84 0.69 7 −2.71 2.36 2.07 6 Changes in match of autonomy 26 −1.00 1.70 19 −0.68 1.46 7 −1.86 2.12 1.61 24 Changes in match of discipline 26 −1.85 1.97 19 −1.37 1.77 7 −3.14 2.04 2.18 24 Changes in match of teamwork 26 −1.27 1.48 19 −1.11 1.24 7 −1.71 2.06 0.93 24 Changes in match of input school-wide decisions 26 −0.88 1.80 19 −0.84 1.54 7 −1.00 2.52 0.20 24 Changes in match of input grade-level decisions 26 −0.81 1.92 19 −0.53 1.65 7 −1.57 2.51 1.25 24
- 6 The mean is the difference between the individual's rating before starting the job and their rating of the same item in the midyear survey.
- 7 Satterthwaite approximation employed due to unequal group variances for these variables.
- 8 p ≤.05.
Interviewees who stayed expressed being satisfied with their positions and most, like Candice, said "I don't think so" when asked whether their job did not go as they had expected. When asked what they were most satisfied with, those planning to stay in their role consistently cited leadership and staff culture. For example, Candice explained,
I don't know if I will find another staff culture like the one at our school right now. I didn't imagine how good it could be. I think going in, I felt like it was strong. I just walked around the school before I was even hired. It just felt so warm. Both my managers and anyone that came to my classroom, was just very comforting but also set the bar really high. It's just second nature that every time you go into a classroom, you're giving feedback whether it's positive or negative.
Her feelings about the staff culture, shared by Joseph and Allen, were particularly positive when it came to a culture of trust around instruction and professional growth. Stayers also reported being very inspired and supported by their leaders. As Candice noted, "She's just so comfortable to talk to... she has a ton she should be doing, but I never felt like it was a burden to her. And just always supportive." Joseph also felt inspired by his principal, particularly the way she got kids and staff invested:
She's definitely got us going in the right direction. As far as thinking about what's best for our kids, I think that the approach in terms of making sure that kids are earning just about everything, it helps kids invest in this school and seeing that investment. I see a lot of our kids are more invested in school than I really was, just in terms of wanting to do well for the sake of doing well, which when I was in school, I probably just did it because I didn't want to get yelled at.
Having a principal and colleagues they could rely on and trust, in the context of feeling successful, kept these teachers most satisfied and committed.
By contrast, Jennifer and Iris left their roles and cited a variety of changes from what they were initially expecting. Both experienced surprises related to leadership that were influential to their decisions to leave or switch. Jennifer started working with a different principal than the one who had hired her. This change in leadership shifted what Jennifer expected in the area of behavioral expectations for students because this principal had a different and much stricter vision for managing student behavior across the school. Jennifer explained,
She wanted things done her way. They implemented this merit and demerit system... we were directed by the administration, by her, and not just by her, but by the administration, to assign a reasoning for the merit to pair the behavior with the merit. They wanted things to be unified throughout every classroom. Suddenly I had to halt the way I was disciplining students by telling them... Instead of saying to a student, "I know you're so good at poetry, and I need you to pay attention right now, because I know you're going to love this line" It was like, "you love this line, that's a good merit."
When asked whether she needed to follow this system, she explained that merits and demerits were tracked and that they had individual and group conversations with the principal about the use of the system. She added, "I didn't know that we were implementing this discipline plan with the merits." Jennifer felt she had little choice but to use these methods. Therefore, this shift in expectations for teachers managing student behavior also relates to the survey category of "input into decision making" and helps explain how the two categories might be related.
Jennifer, who viewed herself as a successful teacher with 8 years of experience in an urban setting, continually contrasted her preferred "caring and empathetic" style of classroom management with the new system. She described feeling increasingly unsuccessful as students became more and more resistant. Jennifer's experience gives one possible explanation for why "match with student discipline," "input," "philosophy" (e.g., around socializing students), and "match with talent" (e.g., her feelings of efficacy) may have larger differences when comparing stayer and leaver fit ratings.
Indeed, school leaders uniformly cited classroom management as a primary reason why teachers did not succeed at their school or pointed this out as their dominant area of concern when making an assessment of fit during the hiring process. As one example,
Author: What are some things you think are going to be a challenge in terms of fit [for this new group of hires]?
Principal: About half of the people on this list [of new hires], I am thinking about management as a growth area for.
Author: Is it stuff that you saw? What's an example of things that you saw that led you to that conclusion?
Principal: Not stopping the lesson and asking for 100% of students to be sat still with eyes on you, for instance, towards the end of a lesson. Perhaps not really demanding that 100% of the students have their eyes on you at any given point in the lesson or that 100% of the students complete the work you are asking them to do. Again, that really keen awareness of what it means to demand the best from every kid in the class.
Looking at this principal's explanation suggests a potentially significant disconnect between their expectations for teachers and students and the expectations or beliefs that teachers have regarding effective classroom management. If determining fit and giving a realistic job preview are affected by alignment and mutual understanding of expectations, then student discipline is a particularly challenging area. This is because expectations at the CMO may be drastically different from those held by experienced teachers coming from different schools or organizations, who may have different ideas of what constitutes success in this area.
Iris switched to a different school within the CMO network and described her first year as "nothing like I expected at all." She explained,
when I first got hired there I was promised that I would get a lot of coaching, like in-class coaching, and I was placed at one of the highest performing elementary schools. It just, to me, it didn't live up to the hype.
When asked why, she said it was because the inspirational principal she had admired during the interview process was getting prepared to lead a different school in the network. Iris clarified,
She was spending a lot of time off campus [preparing for that]. She was also a part of [a CMO coaching team] which meant that she had to go to other schools weekly and observe other teachers. Initially, for the first month or two, she was in my class once a week, but she was only in there for about 10 to 15 minutes at a time. She wasn't seeing a full lesson and sometimes I was really confused with the feedback that I was getting from her.
She explained that the school tried to address this issue by adding two new assistant principals. However, this did little to solve the issue: "Everybody is hopeful, like, 'Oh, maybe we'll get more in-class support.' And then, [the APs] are pulled to all these weekly meetings, for new principal meetings, new assistant principal fellowship meetings. So they're never onsite."
For both Jennifer and Iris, leadership change or instability[
This study found that principals, teachers, and recruiters alike felt that the job preview was clear and realistic, though more so in some areas (e.g., workload, receiving feedback/coaching) than others (e.g., curriculum). Principals and recruiters went out of their way to be explicit and specific in explaining what it would be like to work at the organization, which included expectations for managing student behavior (e.g., during the demo lesson and debrief), with principals even going so far as "downselling" the job. Although principals described trying to be realistic about disciplinary expectations, there was a clear disconnect for some in both the survey and interview data in terms of feeling that these expectations fit for them as teachers.
Perhaps, as a result, recently hired CMO teachers initially rated their perceptions of fit as high or very high across a range of P-O and P-J fit measures. However, certain conditions showed the biggest and statistically significant drop in ratings such as match with one's educational philosophy, desired autonomy, input in decision-making, and approach to discipline. These findings are consistent with prior literature on the influence of no-excuses school climates on teacher satisfaction and turnover. For example, recent qualitative studies find that although teachers certainly "conform" and adopt disciplinary methods ([
Still, if teachers know what to expect about student discipline and their organization before they are hired, what explains the mismatch between expectations and reality? Findings suggest that expectations for student discipline may be difficult for teachers to fully understand and difficult for principals to preview. This is likely due to a mismatch between what the principal believes is great classroom management and what the candidate believes due to their training or prior experience in the field, making it difficult for teachers to determine fit. Effective two-way communication may be difficult to engage in when certain previewed working conditions are far outside of the experience or knowledge of prospective teachers. CMO teachers may be willing to learn the organizational approach at first but disagree with the philosophy or method when put in action. In terms of the literature on realistic job preview in districts and CMOs, findings suggest that job preview may be more difficult to enact depending on what is being "previewed" and how, as well as the prior knowledge and values of each individual.
Other studies illustrate that teachers' professional identity is strongly informed by the workplace organizational culture, which may lead to philosophical differences in how those socialized outside of no-excuses schools view teaching, learning, and views of optimal student socialization ([
A second potential factor influencing the change in perceived fit is leadership instability, which often brings changes in working conditions and expectations. Charter schools and CMOs have higher than average leadership turnover and some of this is influenced by principals being asked to switch positions due to the growth of the CMO—specifically, adding new schools to the network ([
Despite investing much time in the hiring process, it is very difficult and costly for CMOs to find, develop, and retain teachers and school leaders ([
Additional research should look at a longer period of time to see how changes in fit are perceived as teachers grow in their personal expertise. Studies can also look at variation within the CMO sector, which is important because the effectiveness, mission, and approaches that CMOs take vary state by state, and schools may vary even within large national networks such as KIPP. In addition, this study focuses on teachers who accepted positions, not those who were offered the position and turned it down, or those who made it through the process but were not offered the position. Although outside the scope of this study, research like this would shed light on the supply and demand sides of the CMO teacher labor market. Finally, results for this exploratory study should be interpreted with caution, given the lower response rate to the midyear survey and limited number of teacher interviews. Future studies could test hypotheses from this study using larger samples of teachers and CMOs.
In terms of determining fit, more research should examine the process of two-way communication in the hiring process. Effective two-way communication assumes that teachers are able to gain the right kind of information to determine fit. For example, brand-new teachers may not know the right questions to ask or understand what is being previewed because they have insufficient background knowledge. If effective two-way communication plays an important role in determining fit ([
There are several considerations for educational practice suggested by this study. First, principals and central office staff can work to identify areas that are most problematic in terms of job preview, fit, and turnover. Building and using a data system for the hiring process would allow practitioners to have productive conversations on where and how to best adapt their approach. For example, a study like this suggests that the organization could have conversations about whether certain disciplinary systems and expectations are communicated well enough in the hiring process. Second, when planning a leadership transition, communicating honestly and openly with teachers and being aware of what teachers desired and were expecting under the previous leadership and moving slowly to new expectations could foster trust and reduce the likelihood of turnover ([
Leaders could also adopt more positive approaches to discipline. CMO leaders should discuss whether current disciplinary systems are positive and working, and whether they are worth preserving in light of the potential human capital costs. Recognizing some of the limitations of their disciplinary models, several prominent CMOs across the country are turning toward more positive approaches to discipline such as positive behavioral intervention systems (PBIS) and restorative justice ([
Finally, in terms of teacher selection, this study provides an example of how even information-rich hiring processes can benefit from measuring and refining their approach to communicating expectations and determining fit—looking specifically at where their processes or models can be improved and extending the philosophy around the formative use of data from the classroom to the central office.
A. Chris Torres is an assistant professor of K-12 Educational Administration at Michigan State University. He studies urban and low-income school improvement efforts related to school choice, leadership, school turnaround, charter schools, and educator retention and turnover.
By A. Chris Torres
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A. Chris Torres is an assistant professor of K-12 Educational Administration at Michigan State University. He studies urban and low-income school improvement efforts related to school choice, leadership, school turnaround, charter schools, and educator retention and turnover.