Human Resources Weekly Activity Calendar

March 2, 2007

Blue indicates information requests

Green indicates activities/sessions/meetings

Red indicates deadlines

Date / Activity
Friday
March 2, 2007 / District-wide Teacher Recruitment Fair at the Smyrna Community Center
9:00 – 11:30 a.m. Middle and High, 12:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Elementary
Wednesday
March 7, 2007 / Deadline extended from Feb. 28 for the SPOTY winner/alternate form to be sent to Carole Sabrin in Human Resources
Saturday
March 10, 2007 / Diversity Cobb Program, Marietta High School
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday
March 14, 2007 / Deadline extended from March 7 to forward the completed SPOTY packet to Carole Sabrin IF nominee elects to participate at the District-wide level
Tuesday
March 27, 2007 / Interview Fair, Roswell Street Baptist Church
4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friday,
April 13, 2007 / Deadline to submit application materials (online application, resume, recommendation form) to the 2007-2008 CCSD Leadership Academies

SUPPORT SERVICES AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS

FEDERAL COBRA REQUIREMENT AND EAFs

In 1986, Congress passed the landmark COBRA health benefit legislation which provides many former employees and dependents the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates.

The District must notify a terminated employee of his/her COBRA eligibility within 14 days of the date of termination; failure to comply with COBRA laws and provisions can subject the District to significant penalties.

When an employee terminates his/her employment with the District, it is essential that the Employee Action Form (EAF) and letter of resignation are submitted to Human Resources promptly so that we may respond with COBRA notification. We need your help to maintain legal compliance.

If you have any questions about processing terminated employees, please contact the Employment Dept. Thanks so much for your assistance.

EMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Diversity Cobb Program

March 10, 2007 Marietta High School, Meet and Greet 1 PM to 3 PM. Please submit names of staff members who will be representing your school to Natalie Cheshire by Tuesday, March 6th.


TeacherInsight™

Less Time, Better Teachers

Cobb County School District has entered into a partnership with the Gallup organization on teacher selection. Together, our mission is to provide Cobb County School District students with the highest quality teachers, while at the same time easing the workload and pressure placed on administrators to hire such staff. Our primary strategy in doing so is a research-based selection tool called TeacherInsight.

What is TeacherInsight?

Based on more than 30 years of research into the talents of the very best teachers, TeacherInsight provides a quick, effective way to source and assess a large volume of applicants. TeacherInsight allows candidates to apply for teaching positions online, and lets principals immediately identify the best candidates to interview.

What does TeacherInsight measure?

Simply put, TeacherInsight measures the likelihood of an applicant’s success in his or her role as a teacher.

The more detailed explanation sounds something like this: To create a reliable selection tool, Gallup interviewed a group of teachers identified by principals as being the best in their schools. In doing so, we were able to gain insight into their innate talents – the ways in which they naturally thought, felt, and behaved. In analyzing those responses, we identified a way to find applicants who, based on the nature of their own responses, would have equal or better potential for success in the classroom. If an applicant receives a high score on the set of TeacherInsight items, we can infer that he or she is more likely to demonstrate better performance. In short, a higher percentage indicates a better potential fit to the position.

Ultimately, TeacherInsight measures teacher talent. It doesn’t measure subject-matter knowledge or teaching skills. Gallup’s research indicates that teaching excellence comes from the combination of knowledge, skills, and talent. Knowledge and skills alone are not enough to determine whether a teacher will be successful in his or her role. Talent is.

How does this apply to me?

Principals and district leaders can no longer afford to spend time interviewing candidates they never intend to hire or who don’t have the potential to deliver excellent performance. TeacherInsight helps principals quickly identify the candidates who are most like the best teachers from Gallup’s research. While the applicant pool for every school district is unique, starting with the highest scoring candidates and “drilling down” in the pool will provide the best return on principals’ interview time investment. Spending less time weeding out candidates in person means you save time, money, and energy.

Furthermore, recruiting teachers is a very competitive market; a district and its principals must act faster than their competitors. TeacherInsight lets you do just that, all the while making the application process faster and easier for potential candidates.

What are the benefits?

In addition to making the most of principals’ time, TeacherInsight benefits your district in the following ways:

·  Saves time: Principals spend more time with the best instead of interviewing applicants randomly. TeacherInsight reduces the interviewing time required to identify a new teacher.

·  Identifies talented teachers: Average performance in the classroom is no longer acceptable. When hiring teachers, principals must expect nothing but excellence. TeacherInsight assesses an applicant’s talent for teaching, rather than simply their education, experience, and certifications, which may not be predictive of their likelihood for success in the classroom.

·  Influences achievement: A recent student achievement study conducted by The Gallup Organization shows the teachers who scored in the top quartile of TeacherInsight are more likely to have higher student achievement gains than other candidates. Eighty-eight percent of the teachers scoring in the top quartile had one or more years gain in one year of instruction.

·  Increased speed: TeacherInsight generates a score immediately for each applicant, expediting the hiring process.

·  Ensures reliability: Scores are computer-calculated, ensuring 100% rater reliability.

·  Increases searching ability: District personnel can search for applicants by school level, subject areas taught, and certifications.

What’s next?

Building a strong partnership between the Human Resources department and principals is essential to improving student achievement. Together we are offering a training that will further explain how to effectively use TeacherInsight to assess candidates to interview.

The sessions are scheduled as follows: April 17, 8:00 a.m., April 17 1:00 p.m., and April 18, 8:00 a.m. April 18 1:00 p.m. at Martha J. Moore.

To sign up for a training session on how to use the results to hire the best please just go to http://www.cobbk12.org/departments/hr/hremployeerelations/gallup.htm and select which of the four possible sessions you would like to attend.

Metro RESA Job Fair

Principals - If you have an interest in sending one of your assistant administrators to the Metro RESA Job Fair on Saturday, March 10th, please email Liz Cole at

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Georgia International Convention Center - Exhibit Hall D

2000 Convention Center Concourse

College Park, GA 30337

770-997-3566

Parking $3 per day

9 AM to 2 PM

Recruiters should arrive between 8:00 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. There will be light refreshments in the morning and a boxed lunch. This will be an "Open/Browse" format with no formal interviews. We want to encourage candidates to apply with our school district and answer questions about our district and community. We also want to obtain résumés in order to follow up with the candidates.

Please email Liz Cole or Natalie Cheshire if you would like your school to participate. We are limited to seven recruiters, so please let us as soon as possible know if you are interested. Thanks for your interest in this recruitment event.

LEADERSHIP MANAGEMENT

Announcing the 2007-2008 Cobb County School District Leadership Academies

The application and recommendation form for the Cobb County School District (CCSD) Leadership Academies are now online and located on the Human Resources webpage under Leadership Management. Interested CCSD employees may complete the online application at www.cobbk12.org/hr. In addition to the online application, applicants must submit a résumé to the Leadership Management Office, Human Resources and give the recommendation form to their principal, who will return it directly to Leadership Management.

Applicants must have the support of their current principal and area assistant superintendent or central office director/supervisor. Those currently enrolled in a Leadership Academy are ineligible; one year of professional growth is required before applying for another CCSD Leadership Academy. All application materials are due in the Leadership Management Office of Human Resources no later than April 13, 2007. Please see the attached memo for further information on Leadership Academies.

PRINCIPALS: Please remember that, at this time of year, you may receive both a reference form and a recommendation form on the same employee. Reference forms are sent to you when we receive an employment application and recommendation forms are used to recommend a current CCSD employee for the CCSD Leadership Academies. If you receive either or both forms, please return them as soon as possible so that the applicant can be qualified and cleared.

Attachments:

1.  2007-2008 Leadership Academies Memo