Dive Brief:

• According to Peter West, director of eLearning at Saint Stephen’s College in Australia, schools should envision "sculpting" their staffing mix to ensure that they're hiring teachers who come equipped with modern tech skills and e-learning experience.
• Because more schools than ever are using blended and flipped learning, West notes that hiring early tech adopters can positively impact school culture and provide future leaders who can help school staff get up to speed.
• West suggests that a staff member who is already tech-savvy be involved in the hiring process, so including in the assessment of resumes and in interviews. 

Dive Insight:

When hiring teachers, new methods of searching for candidates can help schools and districts drill down on specific skills. The use of data in teacher hiring through companies like AppliTrack and HumaneX Ventures are getting more and more popular. Various platforms exist that can help districts attract and secure candidates while providing a more accurate barometer about whether an educator will teach effectively, eradicating personal bias and promoting diversity when hiring.

Refining hiring strategies can also be done over time. Software can help, but it alone can't weigh the value of meeting and evaluating candidates face to face. Since an ongoing shortage of teaching candidates still plagues many states, some districts are likely to continue being challenged when it comes to hiring teachers. Some schools have even started to hire less-qualified candidates to address the problem. Blended learning advocates like Beth Rabbitt of The Learning Accelerator says that an alternative exists by giving effective teachers a leadership role while using less-experienced teachers as apprentices in blended classrooms.