Handicapping the Teacher Candidate Field

Certain wealthy school districts have begun using psychological profiling tests to refine their application process.

Recently, the Dallas Morning News ran an article describing how certain wealthy school districts were being so overwhelmed by the applications of potential teachers that they enlisted the services of Gallup, that perennial pollster, to help them narrow and refine the number of applications they actually considered. School districts in Birdville, Lewisville, Keller and several other cities now subject would-be teachers to a psychological profiling test, designed to determine which among them might make the best possible educator.

While the jury is still out on what exactly makes a good or effective teacher, Gallup ensures that the test is finely tuned to determine an applicant's 'innate talent', based on '30 years of researching top-performing teachers'.

As any teacher might tell you, statistics on a teacher's performance can be skewed by any number of factors, not the least of which is the wealth of a particular district, which is important given the districts involved. However, profiling tests like the one these applicants are asked to complete have become a staple of the hiring process everywhere. Prestigious firms such as Taco Bell and Kroger now delve into our innermost psyche, in an attempt to root out our true work ethic. I suppose that as long as the test narrows the applicant field and doesn't lead to actually hiring worse teachers, then no one (rejected teachers aside) will be too upset at the practice.

It's hard to consider this new procedure without the broader issue of distribution of wealth coming to mind. The article implies that any teacher shortage Texas may have is actually a regional, rather than state-wide, problem. While the practice of wealthy areas attracting the best talent may not be as harmful when it comes to restaurants or sports teams, education is something different entirely. As new teachers seek employment, they often naturally gravitate to the wealthier districts, and make for this glut of applications. However, this creates a vacuum of qualified educators throughout the rest of the state, which could create a cycle of substandard performance that might seriously effect poorer regions.

In the end, a more involved application process seems like a partial solution to a much larger problem. Increases in teacher status, pay, and benefits might help to counteract this cycle of worsening regional education, but the entire system is in need of a drastic overhaul, as any teacher would strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree.