STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF

HUMAN CAPITAL IN New York City

Overview: Margaret E. Goertz, SMHC/CPRE/UPennPanel: Chris Cerf and Amy McIntosh, NYCDOE

Aminda Gentile and Michael Mendel, UFT

November 18, 2008

Context

• 1,450 schools

• 79,000 teachers

• 1,040,000 students– 32% African-American– 39% Hispanic– 14% White– 14% Asian/Pacific Islander– 14% English language learners

Context

• Operating budget of $17.6 billion– Doubled between 2002 and 2008– 40% state-funded

• Mayoral control (2002)– Mayor appoints Chancellor

• Joel Klein appointed Chancellor in July 2002

– Chancellor chairs Panel for Education Policy– 32 locally-elected community school boards abolished

• Broad Prize for Urban Education (2007)

Education Reform Strategy

Children First • Centrally-established curriculum,

assessments and accountability

• Devolution of hiring, staff development and budget authority to the schools

• System of support for schools

Teacher Recruitment

• Alternative pathways (30% of new hires) – NYC Teaching Fellows Program (8,500 teachers in

system)– TFA (900 teachers in system)– Targeted to high need schools, high need subject

areas

• Increased entry level salaries by 43%• NYC Partnership for Teacher Excellence• Other financial incentives

Teacher Recruitment

• Impact of recruitment policies– Eliminated “emergency certified” teachers– Increased teacher qualifications– Narrowed gap in teacher qualifications

between high- and low-poverty schools– Some effect of increased teacher

qualifications in poorest schools on student performance in mathematics, particularly elementary grades

Teacher Selection and Placement

• Principals make teacher hiring decisions• Contract eliminated seniority-based

bumping and involuntary placement of teachers (2005)

• Open Market Transfer hiring system (OMTS) and hiring tools for new teachers and schools facilitate matching of teachers and schools

• Earlier hiring dates

Principal Recruitment and Selection

• Leadership Academy– Aspiring Principals Program (around 200 principals)– First Year Support program– New Schools Intensive program

• New Leaders for New Schools (91 principals)• Increased salaries by 33% since 2000• Principals must be selected from central pool of

candidates pre-screened by District

Transactional Improvements to HR Processes

• Strategic plan to make HR “service-oriented, customer-centric, and principal focused”

• Computerized and centralized transactional work• Reorganized the HR Department

– Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality– HR Connect (“one-stop” call center for employee-related HR

questions)– Field service staff focused on strategic support of principals– Organizational Services Office

• Created Talent Office for teacher and school leader human capital management

Teacher Induction and Mentoring

• Responsibility and funding for new teacher mentoring shifted to schools in 2007– School-based New Teacher Induction Committees

• District support through Lead Instructional Mentors in SSOs, Office of New Teacher Induction, on-line tracking system, quality rubrics

• Preference for New Teacher Center’s Professional Teaching Standards and Continuum of Teacher Growth and Development

Teacher Professional Development

• Funding ($240 million) and structure of PD devolved to schools in 2007

• Schools must contract with one of 11 School Support Organizations

• Schools may provide their own and/or purchase additional PD to meet individual school needs

• Teacher Data initiative: value-added data for instructional improvement– All math and ELA teachers grades 4-8

Principal Mentoring and PD

• Principal mentoring provided through NYC Leadership Academy programs– Includes one-on-one coaching

• NLNS provides additional support for their principals

• Ongoing principal/AP development from SSOs, Leadership Academy, CSA

Performance Management: Teachers

• Teacher evaluation process and annual rating sheet are determined by contract

• School-wide performance bonuses in 205 eligible high need schools

• Tenure Notification System and on-line “tenure toolkit” for principals

• Support for principals to remove very low-performing tenured teachers

Performance Management: Principals

• Principal performance reviews • State/NCLB accountability system • Separate District accountability system

– School Progress Reports • 60% student progress, 25% student performance,

15% school environment

– School Quality Reviews

• Performance bonuses aligned to District accountability system

Compensation

• Single salary schedule for teachers, principals• Significant increases in teacher and principal

salaries• School bonus program for teachers in eligible

high need schools with improved achievement • Lead Teachers program in eligible high need

schools• Bonus program for principals in schools with

improved achievement• Executive Principal Program

Facilitating Factors

• Strong and stable leadership

• Human capital design decisions related to goal of raising student achievement

• Engagement in strategic planning and phased roll-out of reforms

• Extensive investment in technology

• Productive collaborations with unions

Challenges

• Identifying predictive characteristics of effective teachers to inform teacher selection

• Identifying valid qualitative and quantitative measures of teacher performance for teacher development and performance management

• Identifying components of a valid and effective accountability system

• Renewal of mayoral control in 2009• Fiscal conditions