The following slide deck was presented at the Annual Visible Learning Conference in Washington D.C. in 2016. The slide deck presents specific strategies school leaders may utilize to ensure highly effective teachers and leaders are selected for employment and supported throughout their career.

1. Hiring for Impact
Michael McDowell, Ed.D.
@mmcdowell13, mpmcdowell@rossbears.org,
michael.mcdowell@corwinlearning.net, #AVL2016

2. The technology:
GPS + RFID

3. It's all about focusing on a
few habits.

5. Undercurrents
The Big 4
1. Loss Aversion
2. Value-Attribution
3. Diagnosis Bias
4. Overconfidence

6. Anatomy of an accident

7. The power
of loss.

8. THIS IS IT!
Your sense of urgency may override your logic...

10. SOBE like Harvard
Resumes may lead you down a particular path...

11. When roommates (and
parents) know best...

15. Hiring is instinctive

16. Hiring is tied to powerful stories
shaped by undercurrents that
maintain irrational behavior

17. This is the best we are going
to do...look at where they
came from...I just think it is so
important when they say
[x]...we always pick great
teachers.

19. We need dry logic to find the right people.

20. The right people have the beliefs and behaviors
that make a substantial impact on learners and
the learning community.

21. ● I am an evaluator
● I am a change agent
● I see assessment as
feedback to me
● I see learning as hard
work
● I enjoy challenge
● I talk about learning and
not about teaching
● I engage in dialogue not
monologue
● I engage in positive
relationships
● I use the language of
learning
● I collaborate
BELIEFS BEHAVIORS

22. Hiring for
Impact
The Right Beliefs and
Behaviors
The Right People Involved
The Right Support

23. Filter and Structure
Explore and Involve
Demonstrate
Embrace

24. How it works
Step 1
Filter Candidates
through
screeners
Structure Interviews
Step 2
General Interview and
Demonstration
Lesson(s)
Step 3
Provide Targeted
Support

25. Nexus
Behaviors and Beliefs.

26. The Structured Interview
• Conducted by a trained interviewer
• Research-based
• Designed to predict effectiveness in facilitating
student learning and growth
• Calibrated so that all candidates are treated
equally

27. Example Question
You have a capable student who gets A’s on the
tests and major assessments but does not do
the the daily assigned work. How would you
work with this student?

28. Right people involved
• Interview conducted by a committee from the
school DO organizes interviews
• Draws on expertise of faculty members across
grade levels
• Committee makes recommendation to the
Principal.
• No forced ranking: Our goal is to find the
right person not the best person from the

29. Demo/Scenario
• Demo. lesson conducted by a committee from the school
• Focused on key impact areas and unique needs of school
• Committee makes recommendation to the Principal.
• No forced ranking: Our goal is to find the right person not the
best person from the group.
• Rubric is used to evaluate level of efficacy on criteria

30. Scenario

31. You have received pre/post test results from your learners.
What next steps would you take?

33. Capacity Building-
Knowing and
Responding to Impact

34. Questions...

35. Research
• Dipboye, R. L. (1997). Structured selection interviews: Why do they work?
Why are they underutilized. International handbook of selection and
assessment, 13, 455-473.
• Why are structured interviews so rarely used in personnel selection? van
der Zee, Karen I.; Bakker, Arnold B.; Bakker, Paulien Journal of Applied
Psychology, Vol 87(1), Feb 2002, 176-184.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.1.176
• Hunter and Hunter (1984) revisited: Interview validity for entry-level jobs.
Huffcutt, Allen I.; Arthur, Winfred Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol
79(2), Apr 1994, 184-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.79.2.184
• Willi H. Wiesner1,* andSteven F. Cronshaw2 (2011)A meta-analytic
investigation of the impact of interview format and degree of structure
on the validity of the employment interview*Journal of Occupational
Psychology
• Volume 61, Issue 4, pages 275–290, December 1988