Description
In 2000, SB 1666 (Alarcon) established the Teacher Recruitment Incentive Program (TRIP) to address the teacher shortage in California. The Sacramento County Office of Education, which administers TRIP, awarded competitive grants to six regional consortia to operate teacher recruitment centers that provide assistance to school districts in recruiting potential new teachers. Each of the teacher recruitment centers (TRCs) has implemented a plan tailored to its particular region, with a focus on recruiting qualified teachers to low-performing and “hard-to-staff” schools, particularly those with high numbers of teachers with emergency permits. Activities include screening and referral of teacher candidates, reviewing credentials and transcripts, providing job counseling and information about teacher preparation programs, scheduling interviews between teacher candidates and district administrators, and sponsoring job fairs.

One of the primary strategies for streamlining the teacher recruitment and hiring process has been the use of the new online job posting and application service, Ed-Join. Ed-Join is operated by the California County Superintendents Educational Service Association but is funded and maintained by TRIP. This public education job search Web site allows prospective teachers to register for services provided by the teacher recruitment centers, search for jobs, apply for positions online and track their hiring status. District and school personnel can post job vacancies on the Web site and conduct searches for prospective candidates. Currently, more than 800 districts and county offices use the system, and more than 113,000 individuals are registered.

Funding
Funding for TRIP has remained steady at $9.4 million since 2000–01, the first year of the program. SB 837 (2001, Scott) requires districts to conduct a diligent search for credentialed teachers before they can apply for emergency permits. As part of the search, districts must use their local recruitment center before they can be awarded emergency permits.

Participation
The six regional teacher recruitment centers had a combined goal of recruiting 14,804 teachers through center activities (e.g., job counseling, referrals, job fairs) during 2001–02. At the end of the fiscal year, more than 16,000 teachers were hired through center activities, exceeding the goal by more than 10 percent.

Prospective Teachers Hired via TRC Activities, 2001–02

Additional Resources

• Ed-Join
• References for Teacher Recruitment Incentive Program