Talent management comes to public education

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Public education has many lessons to learn from Fortune 500 companies about the

importance of talent management, according to Strategic Management of Human

Capital, a group formed this summer to transform public education's approach to

human resources.

Talent management directly impacts on student achievement, says the new

organization, which recently released case studies of the human resources

practices of five large urban school districts. The districts are in New York

City; Chicago; Boston; Long Beach, CA; Fairfax County, VA. SMHC has also done

case studies of Minneapolis, Minnesota's "Q-Comp" program, and national

organizations Teach For America, The New Teacher Project and New Leaders for New

Schools.

"For most of these districts, implementing the components of strategic

management of human capital is still very much a work in progress," says a SMHC

report. "Their efforts involve overhauling longstanding, often entrenched

bureaucracies."

The case studies describe current human resources practices in the eight

areas at the core of SHMC's initiative: recruitment, selection, induction,

mentoring, professional development, compensation, performance management, and

instructional leadership.

Among the findings of the case studies:

Urban districts were able to fill every vacant position with new strategic
approaches to recruiting. These include working with local universities on
programs that include tuition reimbursement, summer fellows program, and "grow
your own" initiatives to train teachers and principals for districts.
Early Hiring/No Bumping are some of improvements districts are making in
their practices. One of the challenges urban districts often face is being able
to make job offers to well-qualified candidates in a timely manner. Districts
have moved up the budget calendar and transfer schedule so hiring decisions can
be made in the late winter and early spring, rather than late summer. Seniority
"bumping" is being eliminated in some districts, though senior teachers are
given the first opportunities to apply for open positions.
Districts are using a variety of "screener" systems designed to identify
individuals who might be good teachers, though the predictive power of the
instruments is limited.

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