41,000 students outside of Sacramento. The first thing they have done is start recruiting “their own.” They are working with San Francisco State University’s Teacher Education Institute. By building a partnership the county is able to bring future teachers into the classroom and evaluate how they perform. They have plenty of time to review the candidates and decide whom they would like to hire, rather than base their selection on simply an interview. Secondly, Elk Grove, like many other schools, had a need for teachers certified in specific subjects. Like the corporate world, the county decided to offer hiring bonuses to those who were willing to come teach in their district. Although currently there is no assurance of longevity, the positions for now are filled. (Ibid, 8-9) Both of these methods are currently in place now in Duval County. Duval has stepped up their relationship with the University of North Florida and also the University of Florida to use their education program to view and hire qualified teachers. Duval County also offers sign on bonuses for critical shortage areas, but they even went a step further to help with the issue of longevity. Teachers in special education, math, science, and technology receive a small bonus for promising to stay in the county for another year. Hesperia is a district of 15,000 students that is northeast of Los Angeles. Hesperia goes further out in their method of recruiting teachers. They do nationwide searches by going to colleges and school districts in other states. Through these methods, Hesperia is able to find out where there are surplus teachers and try to recruit them to come to California. This enables them to target employees who are already working in the field of education and understands its demands. Things such as reciprocity between state departments of education that allows teachers to move from one state to another and be fully certified i...
