Recruiting Special Education Personnel for Iowa Schools

This monograph provides ideas to help school district administrators in Iowa attract qualified special education teachers and related service personnel. A framework is provided for reviewing a district's current recruitment program and creative strategies are shared for improving recruiting efforts. Monograph sections contain: an overview of guide content and suggested use; three worksheets for assessing a recruitment program (elements of successful recruiting, prioritizing areas for improvement, and planning for improvement); discussion of elements of an effective recruiting program (including program organization, development and use of recruiting materials, identification of staff needs, announcement of vacancies, application processing, new staff orientation, and program monitoring and improvement); and resources. These include a 27-citation bibliography and three appendixes: a summary of the results of a survey undertaken to direct the development of this guide, a list of the larger circulation state and regional newspapers that will list teacher vacancies, and a chart displaying information about institutions which train special education personnel. (CB)