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Set Teachers Up for Success With Onboarding
For most schools, onboarding isn’t the highest priority. Usually, it’s relegated to the realms of HR and leaders spend their time thinking about other things they believe are more important.
But you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to set your teachers up for success if you gloss over this impactful moment in a teacher’s career at your school.
Yes, teachers new to your school need to sign all of the policies, learn how the payroll systems work, and understand how to request time off. And most states have requirements or recommendations around induction you’ll need to honor as well.
That’s not what I want to focus on here.
Rather, I want to help you maximize the onboarding experience for new teachers so that they feel excited, energized, and prepared to jump into action on their first day. My goal is that every teacher feels empowered to contribute meaningfully right from the start.
So how do we do that?
Design Your Onboarding Playbook
The most prepared schools have a playbook for their teachers’ success—and I’m not talking about the employee manual or handbook that everyone is given by HR!
No, this playbook is your new teachers’ deeper dive into understanding the culture of the school that they’re joining. It should cover all of the standard logistics and institutional knowledge they need to know: policies, procedures, processes, ethics code, and contact information. But it should go much deeper than that, too.
To start, add a customized letter at the front of the playbook to tell your new hires exactly what strengths you saw in them from their interviews, and how you envision them fitting into the picture at your school. This is a powerful way to engage teachers and continue to build a strong relationship with them right from the get-go. In fact, consider sending them a small, personalized gift along with the playbook to reinforce your gratitude and excitement for them.
Inside the playbook, they should find information on your school’s sticky core values and a description of the Remarkable Vision you have for your school. Hopefully, they will have already had a preview of these elements in the Staff Success Scorecard and during their interviews—but having it on-hand in their playbook will help them reference those tools again and remember them. You should also include the school’s strategic goals for the year and a calendar of important dates, events, and milestones so that they know what to look forward to.
My favorite part of the playbook is an FAQ section—ideally written by teachers who have been with the school the past two to three years and who were recently new hires themselves. For these teachers, the questions they had will be fresh in their minds and they’ll be able to help your new hires get adjusted more quickly. If they’re open to it, have these teachers include their contact information as well so that they can be another on-campus resource for your new hires.
Customize your playbook to make it fun and entertaining. Feel free to add whatever you think would be interesting: jokes from the school mascot, pictures of staff members’ pets, create a madlib with the school vision, or award a prize to anyone who reads the fine print and completes a small challenge—go crazy with it! This is a chance to inject some whimsy and wisdom into what might otherwise be a boring document that no one reads.
Revamp Your Back-to-School PD
Most schools have a day or two where all the teachers show up for orientation or back-to-school professional development. Remember back to when you were starting as a new teacher. What was that back-to-school PD like? What stands out in your memory? Was it helpful? Was it fun? Or was it so boring you almost fell asleep?
When I was starting as a new teacher at a high school in Chicago, the most meaningful part of our teacher onboarding was a student panel, where the students shared what it’s really like at the school.
“They might not have told you this when you were hired,” one of the students said, “but here’s what the students are like…”
The students did not hold back, and it added both levity and a good dose of reality to our first days at the school. They shared everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. They told us what not to do and how to authentically connect with them. What’s more—they were 100% correct. When I look back at what the administration and the staff shared versus what the kids shared, it turned out that the advice from students was more helpful than the advice from other staff!
You might consider doing the same thing, or try hosting a panel of veteran teachers as well. Ask yourself, “Who knows this school best?” and try to get a diverse range of voices represented on your panel. Alternatively, you could create a series of videos and/or podcasts to “flip” your back to school PD and use your time together to delve deeper into areas of growth identified for your new hires from the interview process.
Design Personalized Learning Plans
Assuming that your new hire doesn’t have a perfect score in every category on your Staff Success Scorecard, they now have a good assessment of their strengths and an accurate idea of where they still need to grow. Meet with them—or ask a mentor, department head, or other lead teacher to meet with them—to create a personalized plan for their professional growth.
Let the new teacher guide the conversation. Ask them where they are currently, and where do they want to be? Help them to own their professional growth and create a plan that others can hold them accountable to as they settle into their new roles.
Remember, onboarding will be an ongoing effort throughout the first weeks as a new hire. As the school year gets going, let new teachers set the agenda and tell you what they need. Invite their feedback to help inform your onboarding process for future teachers as well.
Reflection Questions
Be Innovative: Take a look at your current onboarding process. What materials do teachers receive, and how helpful are they? What would be the most engaging way to deliver these materials?
Be Intentional: Invite recent new teachers into the process of examining your onboarding process. Let them tell you what new teachers need and how you can make them feel welcome.
Be Proactive: Does every new teacher know exactly what their strengths are and where they need to grow?
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