Abstract
Teacher labor markets are evolving across the United States. The rise of charter schools, alternative teacher certification, and portfolio districts are transforming teachers’ access to employment, changing the way they search for and apply for jobs, and may also change the role that social networks play in the job search. However, we know little about how teachers use their networks to find jobs, particularly in increasingly fragmented local labor markets. We draw on interviews with 127 teachers in three districts chosen to reflect an increasing presence of charter schools: New Orleans, Detroit, and San Antonio. We find that the extent of fragmentation in a city’s labor market drives the use of networks, with important implications for job access and equity.
Keywords
Recognition that teachers are the most important school-level variable influencing student outcomes (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2011) has led to emerging empirical evidence on teacher hiring. While this research has attended to local labor market dynamics, there is little understanding of the role of broader forces shaping teacher labor markets, even as scholars outside of education emphasize that greater interfirm mobility, fewer full-time jobs, more short-term, contract work, and an increased role of networking are shaping labor markets (Castilla, Lan, & Rissing, 2013; Kalleberg, 2018; Osnowitz, 2010). These dynamics in the general workforce are being replicated in education and public sectors in parallel ways, through educational privatization (Feigenbaum, Henig, & Hamnett, 1998; Sclar, 2001), the deregulation of entry to teaching and leadership through alternative certification (Kretchmar, Sondel, & Ferrare, 2016; Scott, Trujillo, & Rivera, 2016), the increasing number of districts with a “portfolio” of schooling options (Bulkley, Henig, & Levin, 2010), and the growth of charter schools in many cities (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools [NAPCS], 2016). As a result, there are now multiple paths to becoming a teacher and multiple employment options for teachers. These trends are transforming teachers’ access to employment and changing how they search for and apply for jobs. These shifts may also change the role that teachers’ social networks—the ties they turn to for connections or advice during their job search—play in the job search process.
Researchers have studied teachers’ preferences for employment by examining where they end up teaching, observing teachers who move between schools in a district and analyzing their application behaviors (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, Ronfeldt, & Wyckoff, 2011; Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wykoff, 2008; Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004). These studies have found that teachers want to work in schools with supportive working conditions (Horng, 2009; Ingersoll, 2001; Johnson, Kraft, & Papay, 2012; Little & Bartlett, 2010), and that they prefer to work close to where they grew up or went to college (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2008). Driven primarily by voluntary decisions and job mobility, there are great disparities in teacher quality across schools (Beteille, Kalogrides, & Loeb, 2012), which typically harm schools serving large numbers of low-income students of color, contributing to widening gaps in educational attainment and achievement across the United States by income and geography (Chetty & Hendren, 2015; Reardon, 2011; Weis, Cipollone, & Jenkins, 2014). Teachers’ decisions about where to work or to switch schools therefore have important implications for educational equity.
Despite sociological research that has consistently shown that social networks influence job markets and search behavior in the private sector (Bian, 1997; Campbell, 1998; Granovetter, 1973; Lin & Dumin, 1986; McDonald, 2015; Montgomery, 1992), less empirical research focuses on how teachers’ social networks influence those job decisions. Most research on teacher labor markets assumes, either implicitly or explicitly, that teacher applicants are rational actors comparing various school conditions, yet emerging research highlights how teacher job search behavior is shaped by social and cultural contexts (Cannata, 2010). For example, teachers’ decisions about where to work or whether to leave a school, as well as levels of teacher burnout, are shaped by their social networks (Cannata, 2011; Fuller, Waite, & Irribarra, 2016; Kim, Youngs, & Frank, 2017), and some recent studies have found that professional ties, such as those established in teacher preparation programs, can influence where new teachers end up working (Krieg, Theobald, & Goldhaber, 2016; Maier & Youngs, 2009).
Furthermore, little empirical research has examined how charter school expansion alters not only schooling options for parents but also the labor market for teachers. The traditional teacher labor market is considered a monopsony, with a single large employer in each school district, yet increasing school choice adds more competition and potential labor-market segmentation (Hoxby, 2000; Jabbar, 2018; Jackson, 2012, Merrifield, 1999). Furthermore, even within traditional public school (TPS) districts, principal authority in teacher hiring has increased over the past 25 years (Engel, Cannata, & Curran, 2018). Drawing on sociological research that examines how shifts from planned to market economies alter the role of social networks in job finding (Benton, McDonald, Manzoni, & Warner, 2015; Chua, 2011), we anticipate that teachers’ social networks may become more salient in their job decisions in settings that are increasingly fragmented.
This study examines this critical question, drawing on interviews with 127 job seekers in three cities with central school districts that have varying degrees of charter density: New Orleans (where over 90% of students attend charter schools), Detroit (53% charter), and San Antonio (30% charter; NAPCS, 2016). We asked teachers about their use of social networks in the job search. We find that the extent of fragmentation in a city’s local labor market drives the use of networks, with networks becoming more important for job searches in settings where information on job openings is less centralized. Teachers’ preparation pathways also influenced their use of social networks, with some alternative programs (e.g., Teach for America [TFA], 2017) having very explicit emphasis on cultivating and maintaining networks. Finally, we find that a shift from a highly bureaucratic or centralized hiring system to one that is informal and network-based can exacerbate inequalities, creating barriers to employment for teachers without connections.
Social Networks and the Job Search
Research inside and outside of education demonstrates how social networks influence search behavior in job markets. Individual actors are “embedded in networks of social relations and interactions” (Castilla et al., 2013, p. 999). Networks are a conduit for information and yield social capital (Lin, 2001; Portes, 1998; Small, 2010), the “resources embedded in one’s social relationships” (Trimble & Kmec, 2011, p. 166). Granovetter’s (1973) work illuminated the “strength of weak ties,” such as acquaintances, which, because they are more distant from the individual, are more likely to provide new information than strong ties to family and friends. Indeed, the importance of “networking” is embodied in the commonsense principle that “who you know” matters as much as or more than “what you know” in the job search.
Using Networks for Information and Influence
Figure 1 provides an overview of our framework explaining how social networks shape job outcomes. While some estimates suggest that close to half of jobs are found through connections, or ties as they are known in social network theory (Trimble & Kmec, 2011), it is important to recognize that social networks are composed of both personal (friends and family) and professional ties (work colleagues). Social networks influence job attainment through various mechanisms. Ties can provide information. For example, a person may share information about an opening that has not yet been advertised (Granovetter, 1995), information about the salaries or working conditions in particular organizations, or general job advice (Castilla et al., 2013; Trimble & Kmec, 2011). Social ties can also influence the hiring decision by providing signals of legitimacy, trust, or status (Castilla et al., 2013); advocating for the job seeker (i.e., “putting in a good word”); or sharing information with the employer about the applicant that is unavailable on a resume (Trimble & Kmec, 2011). For example, many charter schools use referral programs (Jabbar, 2018; Podgursky & Springer, 2011), whereby the hiring manager might consider traits of both the job candidate and the recommender (Castilla et al., 2013).
Framework of the role of social networks in a job search.
Through these mechanisms, social networks can facilitate teachers’ changing jobs without a formal job search. In the private sector, it is estimated that one out of four workers changes jobs without actively searching (Campbell & Rosenfeld, 1985; Granovetter, 1995; McDonald & Elder, 2006). Current teachers, for example, may receive unsolicited information about opportunities through their existing connections (Trimble & Kmec, 2011). People who are informally recruited in these ways may benefit from the “invisible hand of social capital” (McDonald, 2015, p. 299), receiving unanticipated wage or economic benefits, through their social ties. Job seekers may strategically cultivate a network and activate it purposely for job opportunities (Ioannides & Datcher Loury, 2004). Alternatively, they may find jobs somewhat “serendipitously” (McDonald, 2010), or passively, just by maintaining a broader set of ties, through which they gain access to high-quality employment (McDonald, 2011). Traditional public systems tend to have bureaucratic hiring processes, which may make it harder for candidates not actively searching for a position to act on an employment opportunity that arises through their network. Thus, in cities with large shares of charter schools and more fluid career pathways, there may be more opportunities for passive searchers to fill positions.
Despite the ability of networks to provide opportunity, networks can also close opportunities or reproduce inequities in employment access. The tendency for networks to be homogeneous can reinforce existing structural inequities in the labor market (Castilla et al., 2013; Fernandez & Sosa, 2005), and informal recruitment or isolated networks that restrict access can limit opportunities for women and minorities (Lin, 1999; McDonald, Lin, & Au, 2009; Trimble & Kmec, 2011). Given the known inequities in the distribution of quality teachers across schools (Beteille et al., 2012), there is potential for schools serving traditionally underserved students to be overlooked in network-driven job searches or for teachers of color to have more difficulty gaining access to influential connections.
Teachers’ Use of Social Networks in the Job Search Process
In education, there is very little research on the role of social networks in the job search, although a large body of research explores other dimensions of networks in schools, such as teachers’ advice-seeking patterns (Frank, Zhao, & Borman, 2004; Penuel, Riel, Krause, & Frank, 2009; Spillane, Shirrell, & Sweet, 2017), principals’ networks and interpretation of policy (Daly & Finnegan, 2009), how networks sustain educational reform (Cannata, Redding, Rutledge, Joshi, & Brown, 2017; Coburn, Russell, Kaufman, & Stein, 2012; Wilhelm, Chen, Smith, & Frank, 2016), and political and policy networks (Au & Ferrare, 2014; Russell, Meredith, Childs, Stein, & Prine, 2015). Furthermore, prior research has examined the role of social networks on teacher burnout and decisions to leave a school (Fuller et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2017), but little research has explored the relationship between social networks and employment directly.
One exception is Cannata’s (2011) research, which followed 27 prospective elementary teachers in Michigan as they gathered information about schools and applied for jobs, including how they used personal and professional ties to schools. She found that teachers believed they were more likely to receive jobs in schools in which they had ties, and they spent a significant amount of time building social capital to increase the possibility of a hire, using connections to the schools they attended as children, where their parents worked, or where their friends’ children attended. In addition to activating existing ties, applicants also attempted to accumulate ties by visiting schools, meeting with principals, and substitute teaching. Teachers used their ties primarily for information on vacancies and working conditions. Yet, despite their perceived importance, social ties ultimately played a small role in teachers’ job outcomes, perhaps because the sample included prospective teachers who may have fewer professional ties. These patterns may differ for teachers with different experience levels or entry paths to the profession.
Research in education also suggests that teacher preparation programs and initial teaching placements can provide essential information or signals to employers, operating similar to a social network. Teacher preparation programs facilitate social connections among candidates in the program and between schools and candidates, usually through staff with long-standing relationships with cooperating schools (Maier & Youngs, 2009). Indeed, research has found that one in six first-time teachers receive jobs in the building where they student taught (Krieg et al., 2016). These teachers may use social ties created during student teaching to assist them with their subsequent job searches. In this way, teachers’ professional ties may be shaped by the organizations with which they are affiliated, particularly their teacher preparation program. With the increasing role of alternative pathways into teaching, new organizations (e.g., TFA, 2017; TNTP Teaching Fellows, 2017) may also shape teachers’ professional ties (Kretchmar et al., 2016; Scott et al., 2016; Zeichner & Peña Sandoval, 2015). While teachers may draw on these early established networks throughout their career (i.e., going back to a college career fair, or reaching out to a former classmate), how a teacher activates their network may also depend on career stage.
Finally, some research suggests that teachers tend to work near where they grew up or went to college—the “draw of home” (Boyd et al., 2005; Reininger, 2012)—and that principals are more likely to give offers to applicants with strong ties to the local area (D’Amico, Earley, & Pawlewicz, 2015). While this preference may be due to familiarity with a region, it may also indicate that social networks play a role, through referrals, for example (Engel & Finch, 2015).
Networks in a New Institutional Landscape
Figure 1 also illustrates how the labor market context may mediate the role networks play in the job search. Broader policy contexts and institutional arrangements can influence how networks play a role in employment decisions (McDonald, Benton, & Warner, 2012). Changes in market institutions, such as those created by neoliberalism, privatization, or deregulation, can increase the importance of personal connections in the labor market. Studies of markets in transition, in Eastern Europe, for example, have found that as markets become more liberalized, informal recruitment and personal networks matter more for the job search (Benton et al., 2015; Chua, 2011; Gerber & Mayorova, 2010; Nee, 1989). When market institutions change, there can be more uncertainty and a lack of fully formed institutions—a period of transition that can encourage a greater reliance on informal processes, such as the use of social networks to recruit employees (Benton et al., 2015). Studies of public sector privatization have found similar patterns. Privatization can introduce greater competition for labor, and employers may thus place greater weight on employees recruited through networks, who might “signal” their quality by association with the recommender (Nee & Opper, 2012; Pellizzari, 2010).
Similarly, in deregulated education contexts, social networks may play a greater role in securing jobs. When districts are fragmented, when there are many types of independently operated schools, districts, or charter networks within a given area, information on job vacancies and school options may be harder to find, and the job search may be more cumbersome. In less fragmented districts, by contrast, both job opportunities and salary scales are typically posted in a central location, in part to ensure transparency and equal opportunity, and limit allegations of discrimination, and a centralized process oversees initial screening of applicants to these positions (Liu & Johnson, 2006). Network strategies may have limited influence in traditional, centralized school districts, which have more structure guiding employment decisions; whereas in sectors where networks dominate, they can significantly shape employment outcomes (McDonald et al., 2012). Indeed, research in other contexts has found that networks are less effective in leading to job outcomes in settings where recruitment and hiring procedures are “highly formal and bureaucratized” (Chua, 2011, p. 1), such as in traditional, centralized school districts. However, networks can play a much greater role in settings with many charter schools, which are often exempt from salary schedules and autonomous in their hiring of teachers, may bring new recruitment practices, such as the extensive use of referrals for hiring (Jabbar, 2018; Podgursky & Springer, 2011). Moreover, recent evidence on the decentralization of hiring even within traditional districts emphasizes the changing nature of decision making, wherein individual schools have autonomy in teacher hiring, therefore raising the prospect that social networks will play an increasingly important role (Engel et al., 2018). At the same time, alternative certification programs have expanded, creating new pathways into teaching (Redding & Smith, 2016). Increased uncertainty in educational contexts undergoing rapid institutional change, due to privatization, charter school expansion, or school closures, may encourage a reliance on informal processes in teacher recruitment (Benton et al., 2015).
Despite a rich body of work on social networks and employment, more research is needed to understand how actors use their networks in the job search, and, in particular what information is shared, and the range and types of assistance offered through network ties (Trimble & Kmec, 2011). Furthermore, it is important to understand how these dynamics play out in the rapidly changing landscape of urban education, with the increasing presence of charter schools, decentralized hiring, and changes in teacher pathways through the profession. In our study, we fill this gap, drawing on in-depth interviews to understand teachers’ use of social ties in the job search process, and the types of assistance their contacts provide.
Data and Methodology
Sample and Site Description
This study examined teacher job searches in the local labor markets surrounding three mid-sized school districts, San Antonio Independent School District, Detroit Public Schools, and Orleans Parish School Board, 1 sampled for their moderate to high charter school densities (30%, 53%, and 91% respectively). We wanted to capture districts where there was sufficient charter school market share to potentially alter teacher labor market dynamics, as well as variation within this category, so that we could include relatively more and less fragmented local labor markets. In each site, we focused the sampling around the central school district based on charter concentration, but also included teachers in the broader local labor market. This was important because we wanted to understand how teachers considered jobs in both the core school districts alongside inner-ring and outer suburban districts. Although almost all of the teachers in our sample worked in schools that were located in the city center, many also considered jobs in nearby suburbs. In New Orleans, where there are countywide school districts, we focused on Orleans Parish, but asked about neighboring parishes, including Jefferson, St. Tammany, and St. Bernard. In San Antonio, where the county was larger, but included many smaller districts, we asked questions about all districts located within the county. In Detroit, which had smaller counties and more fragmented school districts, we included teachers seeking jobs in Wayne County, where Detroit Public Schools is located, as well as adjacent school districts in bordering counties.
San Antonio
San Antonio is a major city in south-central Texas with a population of about 1.3 million. The population is predominantly Latino (63%), 26% White, and 6% African American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). In the aftermath of school-finance litigation, policymakers introduced charter schools and voucher reforms in San Antonio (Macchiarola & Diaz, 1996), nonjudicial remedies that advocates viewed as solutions to longstanding educational inequality.
There are 15 school districts located in Bexar County, where San Antonio is located. In the largest district, San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), Latino students are overrepresented and White students are underrepresented (Texas Education Agency, 2016; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). Furthermore, there is a growing share of charter schools in SAISD. Approximately 30% of public school students attend charter schools (NAPCS, 2016).
We sought to recruit a sample that reflected the diverse teacher certification landscape in San Antonio. Of the 1,408 teachers who received initial certification in San Antonio in 2016, 739 (52%) were certified by alternative programs and 669 (47%) by traditional certification programs (Texas Public Education Information Resource, 2019). We used state administrative data to identify and sample teachers from the largest traditional certification programs—University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas State University. TFA (2017) has placed about 500 teachers over the past 5 years in San Antonio, mostly in SAISD. Over the period, TFA comprised approximately 10% of new teachers placed in the county. 2 However, there are many other alternative programs, including for-profit programs, which place as many teachers in the region.
San Antonio ISD followed a centralized hiring model where hiring decisions were made by district-level administrators with well-defined processes for screening teacher applicants (Mason & Schroeder, 2010). Principals typically had some autonomy in the hiring process, but they had less control in deciding which teachers demonstrate a stronger match and fit for their schools. At some of the TPS districts in the area, teachers reported that hiring was often similar to what Liu and Johnson (2006) described as “late, rushed, and information poor” (p. 324). Teachers reported applying for jobs early, but would not hear back until August, usually when they had already accepted positions elsewhere. Teachers typically applied to central offices in each district, but had to submit separate applications to charter schools.
Detroit
Detroit, Michigan is a midwestern city with a population of about 690,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). The city is 80% African American, 13% White, and 7% Latino. The central Detroit school district, Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), has a population of 47,277 students. Another 50,000 or so students attend charter schools in the city, a charter school market share of 53% (NAPCS, 2016). There were 40 school districts adjacent to or in the outer rings beyond DPSCD, with approximately 15,000 full-time equivalent teachers (Michigan Schools Data, 2018).
In Detroit, there was a widely perceived teacher shortage, with DPSCD alone having over 200 unfilled positions in August 2017 (Higgins, 2017). The shortage was reflected in recent changes to some alternative teacher preparation programs. TFA’s corps had dropped from over 100 corps members per year to less than 30 (Personal Communication, TFA staff member), TNTP was ending its recruitment program (Personal Communication, TNTP staff member), and the superintendent has considered partnering with more alternative certification programs (Levin, 2018). There are also many traditional teacher preparation programs, including at least eight university-based programs in the region, from which we sought to sample teachers.
The charter school system was fragmented, with many for-profit and standalone charters, and teachers had to apply to each individual charter school. There was no centralized system to apply for jobs across sectors, even though charter schools comprised a large number of open positions. Hiring was centralized in the TPS districts in the area. DPSCD, however, was also characterized by typical urban district hiring practices documented in the literature (Liu & Johnson, 2006), as reported by teachers. In charter schools, hiring was typically decentralized, with teachers applying to individual schools or, in some cases, charter networks.
New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana is a medium-sized southern city of 376,738 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). The population is 30% White, 59% African American, 3% Asian, and 6% Latino, and 27% of the population lives in poverty. In public schools, African Americans are overrepresented, comprising 83% of the student body (White students make up 8%), and 88% of students are economically disadvantaged. In 2016, 91% of public school students attended charter schools, the highest share in the nation.
After Hurricane Katrina, the state-run Recovery School District took over most schools in the Orleans Parish School Board and converted them into charters. The reformation of the school system also dramatically changed the teaching workforce from largely local, experienced, and African American, to Whiter, less experienced, alternatively or (un)certified, and nonlocal (Barrett & Harris, 2015; White, 2016). TFA corps members and alumni make up 20% of the New Orleans teaching force, and over 50 alumni serve as leaders (TFA, 2017). TeachNOLA, part of TNTP, had 132 fellows in 2016, and had trained 1,025 fellows since 2007 (TNTP Teaching Fellows, 2017). Since Katrina, the number of traditional teachers prepared in New Orleans has dwindled, due to both major budget cuts to public universities and the hiring preferences of charters. We recruited from the two universities that continued to offer a program and supplied the most teachers (University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans).
Charter schools had high turnover (Barrett & Harris, 2015) due to closures, lack of tenure (Strunk, Barrett, & Lincove, 2017), and people searching for the right fit. Unlike in traditional school districts, the job search started early and was completely decentralized. By March, teachers had applied to many positions. Teachers submitted individual applications to each school or charter management organization (CMO), with no way to apply for positions within or across sectors, and the vast majority of open positions were in charter schools. Some CMOs conducted initial screenings of candidates, but principals had ultimate hiring authority and could bypass the system. Alternatively, traditional districts in the surrounding parishes used a more typical centralized hiring model, like in San Antonio.
Recruitment
To ensure a diverse pool of teachers with different job search processes and preferences, we sampled teachers at different stages of their careers, from both TPSs and charter schools, and from different preparation pathways, employing a form of purposive sampling for maximum variation (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). Our goal was not to generalize to the population of job seekers in each site, but to understand how patterns and processes of network use in job seeking vary or stay constant across teachers from diverse backgrounds to elaborate theory. In each site, we recruited teachers who were currently in teacher preparation programs seeking their first jobs, as well as teachers who were already working in schools to maximize the likelihood of capturing participants who receive and act on serendipitous information via networks (McDonald, 2010). To find teachers at the start of their careers, we contacted and posted on the listservs of traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs, targeting those that placed the most teachers in each site, and recruited at university job fairs. For teachers who were already working, but switching jobs, we recruited them via teacher job fairs, direct emails to schools (e.g., the largest charter networks), alumni listservs, and snowball sampling (Miles et al., 2014), asking teachers to recommend other job seekers. Since one out of every four workers changes jobs without engaging in a job search (McDonald, 2015), it was important for us to move beyond job fairs to capture the influence of networks in hiring. (Table 1 describes our sample.)
Description of Sample
Note. We were unable to collect racial background characteristics for one teacher in New Orleans.
Data Collection
To understand teachers’ decision-making processes, and how their social networks influenced their job searches, we interviewed 127 teachers in 2016–2017 about the schools to which they were considering applying. We conducted some initial interviews in person, although almost all of the interviews in San Antonio, about half in Detroit, and about one-quarter in New Orleans were conducted by phone. Each teacher was interviewed at least once during the job cycle, but if the teacher had not yet accepted an offer, we followed up with them to learn about where they had landed, and how, if at all, their process had changed. We interviewed 127 teachers total, and 50 of these teachers were interviewed twice because they had not yet completed the job search at the time of the first interview. (We were unable to interview 28 teachers, who were still searching for a position, a second time.) All follow-up interviews were conducted by phone, regardless of site, during the fall semester following their job search.
Interviews were semistructured, lasting approximately 60 minutes each, and all were recorded and transcribed. Follow-up interviews lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. For consistency across interviews, we created an interview protocol that had informal, open-ended, and more formulated questions (Patton, 1990). During each interview, we asked teachers about the schools they had considered, applied to, or declined. We also asked teachers where they receive information about schools and job openings, and about their connections to schools or districts. We probed for whether teachers’ contacts provided information, contacted the employer on the teacher’s behalf, connected them with a current staff member at the school/district, or helped them prepare for an interview, as well as any other ways in which they supported their job search. When teachers received offers, we asked them to describe any personal or professional connections to those schools. (See Appendix A for our interview protocols available in the online version of the journal.)
Data Analysis
To understand the role of teachers’ social networks in their job search, we analyzed data from the interviews about who teachers turn to for information and support in the job search process and how they activated, or made use of, those ties. Three researchers coded five transcripts independently, and met to compare our coding, with a fourth researcher helping resolve discrepancies. After reaching agreement on these initial transcripts, we individually coded the remaining transcripts in the qualitative software program Dedoose using a hybrid method (Miles et al., 2014). We first coded for broad themes (e.g., “working conditions,”“social networks”). Then, through dialogue between the data and literature, we added codes and developed themes inductively (e.g., “use of networks for information,”“use of networks for influence,”“organizational network”). We wrote social network memos for each teacher, focusing on the roles that networks played in their job search, and used these memos to draw out key themes regarding the use of social networks within each site. We then examined how these themes varied across sites, based on the extent of fragmentation or charter density. This approach allowed us to identify particularities of individual cases, while also synthesizing findings across them to build or extend theory (Eisenhardt, 1989).
We developed qualitative matrices for each site (Miles et al., 2014), which included teachers’ demographic information, pathways, job searches, and their use of networks. We wrote and refined analytic memos on emerging findings to address the study’s central questions about teachers’ use of social networks in the job search process, and variation across groups of teachers (prospective, current, etc.) and sites. We met regularly as a team to review emerging findings, testing our hypotheses about linkages between codes in the data (Goetz & LeCompte, 1993). Using these themes, we went back to our coded data to systematically explore the prevalence of these themes, how they varied across sites, and to identify exceptions and disconfirming evidence (Miles et al., 2014) as we developed our key findings.
The Use of Social Networks
We found that many teachers used their networks to find and secure jobs. Some teachers never engaged in a formal job search but were lured to another opportunity by a friend or former colleague. As one teacher noted—a sentiment echoed by many—”It’s all about who you know,” describing how she found her current position at a charter school through a colleague’s daughter. On the other end of the spectrum, teachers new to the area or new to teaching often had weaker networks—”didn’t know anyone”—and pursued only formal channels to find positions. Teachers were thus aware that leveraging networks was important, and they used networks both for information and for influence. (See Figure 2 for a revised and elaborated conceptual framework based on our findings.) In this section, we describe how teachers’ use networks for influence and information generally, before turning to how the local labor market context influenced teachers’ use of networks. Finally, we discuss the potential downsides of greater reliance on networks.
Social networks and the job search in a fragmented labor market.
Information
Across the three sites, a majority of teachers (78%) used networks to find information about job openings and to gather first-hand accounts of school working conditions.
Job Openings
Networks provided information on available positions, sometimes even when they were not posted on district websites, yielding access to “inside vacancies” (i.e., information about individuals who had not yet officially declared they were leaving, or newly created positions not yet advertised). Across the board, teachers acknowledged that “who you know” is key in learning about job openings. As one New Orleans teacher commented: “there’s always job postings . . . but you have to go into the union meetings or fellowship and go into workshops. That’s how you get a job. Really and truly.” Similarly, in Detroit, teachers frequently mentioned hearing about openings through contacts. As one TFA alum in Detroit said, a theme echoed by many: “I also have word of mouth, so other teachers in my school right now who are looking for jobs will mention, ‘I did an interview over here, and they were looking for an English teacher.’” Similarly, a prospective teacher in San Antonio used “word-of-mouth,” to “look into any leads for vacancies.”
Working Conditions and Fit
In addition to information about job openings, teachers also used their social networks to gain inside information about schools and districts they were considering. Research suggests that working conditions matter for turnover and job attractiveness, and one key way to obtain this information may be through teachers’ networks. Teachers used their networks to find out “what it was like” to work in schools. Particularly, they were interested in the leadership, workload, and general school culture—aspects of the work environment they were not always able to glean from school websites or visits. Teachers often used websites to gather information on schools, but they considered the information unreliable and instead sought out firsthand accounts. One TeachNOLA teacher noted, “I tend to think what gets puts on the website doesn’t always reflect the actual reality of what is happening within some of these places.” To get a true picture, she “want[ed] to talk to somebody who’s actually there, like in the trenches every day.” Other teachers echoed this idea that the information on websites was limited and not as trustworthy as direct contact with teachers working in schools.
Teachers tried to gauge intangible aspects, asking their connections about “what the culture in the building was like” and if the school had “a good working environment.” Teachers were interested in schools’ disciplinary approaches. For example, one New Orleans charter school teacher wanted to know “how strict the schools were and what their discipline system was like.” Charter school teachers were particularly interested in workload, especially “the number of hours you’re expected to put in” per day, as one charter school teacher in Detroit said. Teachers also obtained information about leadership support through their networks: asking their peers, “how is the administration?” Specifically, teachers sought to gauge the level of autonomy and support. For example, one teacher asked: “Do you feel like they are picking on you and they are picking apart your lesson? . . . With administration, do they actually say you’re doing a good job or are they just telling you all the bad things that you need to work on?” Teachers also asked of school leaders, “are they good to work with,” or sought to assess the “relationship among colleagues and administrators.” In these ways, information traveling through teachers’ networks revealed critical aspects about working conditions in schools.
This information, gathered from friends and colleagues, influenced job seekers’ decisions about where to apply, where to accept positions, and even where to avoid seeking a position. Many teachers shared that they ruled out schools, CMOs, and even whole districts based on the opinions and reputations shared with them. A prospective teacher in Detroit said, “I had heard too many things from people who had worked at that district about . . . just it not being a good place to work and not good working conditions so I wasn’t interested.” Another Detroit teacher, with 7 years of experience, used her friends’ advice to shape her searches, and she ruled out a school because “some of my friends were like, ‘No you don’t want to work here. You’re not going to like it.’” A current charter school teacher in New Orleans, when asked if there were any schools she would not consider, replied “probably not a [CMO] school . . . a few teachers at my school that worked there in the past. They just don’t really have a lot of good things to say.” One prospective teacher in San Antonio was considering some charter schools, but after talking to friends, she said, “I changed my mind about charter schools, even though I like what they believe.” Teachers similarly ruled out schools “where they have a reputation,” or where their friends “had really terrible experiences.” The passing on of broad perceptions of schools, both positive and negative, via networks thus shaped job seekers’ decisions.
Influence
Teachers also used their networks, not just for information but also to influence the hiring process by accessing hiring managers or signaling legitimacy. Across the sites, 40% of teachers in our sample used their networks in these ways.
Connecting With Leaders or Hiring Managers to Access Positions
The use of networks for influence was most prominent when teachers’ contacts were in charge of hiring decisions or had hiring authority. For example, one current teacher in Detroit with a wide network applied to a school where she had previously been a substitute teacher when the principal reached out: “The principal had sent me a text message to let me know that he was opening up two positions, and that I should go on to apply.” Teachers with close ties to leaders received direct contact from principals encouraging them to apply, which teachers perceived increased their chances of receiving an offer. One current New Orleans teacher described how he found his position: And so, moving to [CMO], my principal now is this guy . . . who I know from TFA, and that’s typically how it goes, you know somebody, you hear about a job opening or an opportunity . . . I got a drink with him off the record, as like, “I don’t want to hear from you as an employee from [CMO], I want to hear from you as like a person I know personally,” and had a conversation with him about it.
One charter school teacher in San Antonio had an uncle who served on the school board of a high-demand district, and she was able to get an interview: “So when I applied, [my uncle] was able to call the principal. . . . She got back to me right away, and I actually went in the following day for an interview. That was really quick, because of that connection.” Teachers with ties to hiring managers sometimes limited their search to just a few schools, rather than cast a wide net.
Teacher Referrals to Gain Legitimacy
Job seekers believed their contacts in schools gave them signals of trust and legitimacy, even if those connections did not have hiring authority. Teachers used these networks to get a “leg up” on other candidates. As a prospective TeachNOLA teacher noted, “you need to be able to network or know someone . . . to really have any pull.” A current TPS teacher in Detroit said, “with the business world and the education world, it’s very important who you know and what doors you can get opened for you.” A New Orleans teacher with over 15 years of experience said of a school she was considering, “I had some friends that worked there and I said, okay, put this in somebody’s hands. My resume . . . Then they eventually called back, offered me the job.” A New Orleans teacher whose boyfriend worked at a charter school, had “heard of a $500 referral bonus, and gave them my name . . . then that person called me.” A Detroit teacher explained referrals, favored by charter schools: A lot of people are taking the words of their co-worker or the words of the people they work for or work with them, because they’re saying, “If you can vouch for this person, we want to hear what you have to say . . . Because we believe that you’re not going to steer us in the wrong direction.”
A mid-career teacher in San Antonio who sought a position in one of the area’s higher performing districts noted, “Maybe I’m older and I’m seeing things differently. It’s really if you know somebody. . . . They’ll get their friends in or they’ll put in a word.” In these ways, formal and informal referral programs helped teachers leverage networks to influence the hiring process.
Drivers of Network Use
In this section, we describe what drove variation in teachers’ use of social networks in the job search. We first describe how the extent of fragmentation in each site influenced network use, before turning to how organizational contexts and teacher preparation programs shaped network use. Returning to Figure 2, this section explores the relationships (arrows) between the local labor market context and the structure of social networks, as well how context influenced the uses of networks for both information and influence.
Extent of Fragmentation
Networks were a major source of information on job openings and working conditions, but the extent to which teachers used these networks, and the types of information or influence they sought, varied across sites. In San Antonio, where there were more structured job search processes, more jobs in TPSs, and a smaller charter school presence, teachers were less likely to have a large number of contacts spread across schools, and tended to use their networks for information rather than influence. (See Table 2 for patterns in overall network use.) In contrast, teachers in New Orleans and Detroit, where the majority of positions were in the charter sector and hiring was more decentralized, with many different charter operators and, in Detroit, a large number of smaller school districts, teachers relied more heavily on their networks, particularly for influence, and had more contacts spread across schools, with whom they were in constant communication. Regardless of site, charter school teachers were more likely to use their networks to influence the hiring process.
Overall Network Use
Note. TPS = traditional public school. We were unable to collect racial background data for one teacher in New Orleans. Uncertified teachers are included under alternative for the purpose of this table.
Constant Chatter
Widespread networks opened opportunities to teachers, who could be constantly, but not actively, on the lookout for positions. Teachers in Detroit and New Orleans commonly “put feelers out there,” or had “friends telling me about any schools . . . with positions open.” They thus described seemingly constant chatter among teachers about who was moving to what school, and which schools had openings. Teachers also received unsolicited texts, calls, and emails from contacts letting them know, for example, that the art teacher “was moving away suddenly,” or asking if the participant “would be interesting in teaching at my school,” and offering to send an e-mail to the principal. This chatter among teachers who were not actively searching for a job sometimes led to a job switch. For example, a charter school teacher in Detroit said, “A couple of jobs were offered to me, just through . . . with education it’s kind of like all about who you know and that’s how you get the jobs.” While the teacher was not ready to switch schools that year, when she searched for a position the following year, she received two interviews through her contacts and referrals.
In New Orleans and Detroit, teachers relied heavily on their networks to find information about job openings and decide where to apply due to the decentralization of information and complexity of the school systems there, with many different operators. (Approximately 88% of teachers in New Orleans and 77% of teachers in Detroit used their networks for information.) One mid-career Detroit teacher described the importance of relying on networks for information because “everything’s so fragmented so you don’t know which charter school is a good fit, which one isn’t.” In these sites, participants described the job market as constantly in flux because teachers switched jobs frequently—both out of a desire for a new position and due to the instability of schools in these sites. One current charter school teacher in New Orleans observed, You always need to be on guard because it’s only a one-year contract . . . These contracts are at the will of the school, so there’s not a union or a grievance committee or anything like that. . . . So you always really want to keep your ear open and to the ground to see what’s going on because nobody wants to be left out in the cold.
Some of Detroit’s veteran teachers intentionally used networking as a strategy to preempt moments of crisis such as school closures or being laid off. Since these conditions created high mobility in Detroit, teachers often ended up knowing “someone in nearly every school.” One Detroit teacher explained, “Now that I have a lot of colleagues or former colleagues that are . . . spread into different schools, [I’m] kind of talking with them and seeing what their needs might be for the fall.” In these settings, then, it is not surprising that teachers had more contacts spread out among schools and were always informally on the job market.
Through constant chatter, teachers also attempted to gain further information to determine fit, but the types of information sought varied across contexts. In Detroit and New Orleans, where salaries in charter school networks were less transparent, and where negotiation was possible, teachers leveraged networks to learn about salaries. Teachers in Detroit asked colleagues whether “salaries were comparable” between schools, and tried to get a sense of benefits, asking, for example, “how do retirement planning and contributions work?” Similarly, in New Orleans, teachers often “ask[ed] about salary and benefits.” This information helped them to rule out schools where salaries would be too low or helped with negotiating their offer.
In contrast, somewhat fewer teachers in San Antonio relied on their networks for information (69%). Most teachers approached the job search as they might in a more traditional school district, where jobs were posted in a central location (on district websites). Teachers in San Antonio often activated their social networks only when necessary, when they felt the traditional process was not going to yield a new job. Recognizing it “was serious crunch time,” one prospective teacher contacted a former student-teaching supervisor who suggested he “apply for everything, all the charter schools.” Another new teacher reached a point where he said: “I didn’t know what to do. I was asking friends . . . one of my friends told me ‘hey, there’s a spot open here. You should probably apply right now.’ . . . And I was like: ‘Okay, might as well.’” One teacher with 13 years of experience described her reluctance to use her networks: I don’t like doing that because then I’m going to owe a favor . . . I thought I would [get a job] by my merits or my experience and stuff like that. I don’t like those type of favors because . . . I feel like you’re indebted, and you have to pay it back.
While some teachers in San Antonio sought their peers’ perspectives, they were ultimately less influenced by those opinions. One teacher with nine years of experience described how she found out about jobs “mainly [from] the internet and then some people.” Another San Antonio teacher with seven years of experience said that “most” of her information “comes from websites, and a little bit of it comes from comments from colleagues.” When asked if the information provided by peers changed their perceptions or job search, teachers replied “no, not really” or “it’s not necessarily changing my approach or my view.” Teachers in San Antonio thus first tried official mechanisms to identify available positions, turning to their networks as a secondary strategy, while teachers in New Orleans and Detroit maintained constant contact with their networks about jobs.
Enhanced Influence
Although the decentralized and fragmented systems in Detroit and New Orleans created some greater challenges for teachers as they sought to navigate the job search, these contexts also provided opportunities for greater influence. The use of networks for influence in the job search was most common in Detroit (51% of teachers) and New Orleans (45%), particularly amongst the younger and early career teachers working within CMOs, and to a much lesser extent in San Antonio (26% of teachers). In Detroit and New Orleans, teachers more often had direct ties to people with hiring authority (e.g., human resources staff or principals). In charter schools in Detroit and New Orleans, perhaps because of high turnover and mobility, teachers often knew principals directly. In these sites, people who were actively seeking a position used all of their resources, including anyone in their social network, to secure that position. In New Orleans and Detroit, when teachers used their networks for information about job opportunities, this often coincided with a contact passing their name along or helping get their resumes “launched to the top of the stack.”
In New Orleans and Detroit, some teachers with access to hiring managers through their networks did not only get a “leg up” in the interview process, or move to “the top of the pile,” but used these connections to bypass traditional routes, job postings, or formal interviews altogether. Social networks thus helped to facilitate moves made without active searches or official postings, and teachers noted that these meetings were “not really interviews.” One current teacher in Detroit received offers at two schools without formally interviewing: “It was not an interview. It was like, hey, get to know you. So if a job comes up he’s like, ‘I can say, hey, I know this girl. She’s legit.’” In another case, a current charter school teacher in Detroit went on an informal interview for a position that had not yet been posted after being “sought out” by the principal at the school, with whom she used to work: “The situation is that they had a need. They still had a . . . teacher in place, but . . . he wasn’t getting the job done, and they were trying to find someone else before they let him go.” A TFA alum in Detroit described a similar process to find a job at a charter school: “It wasn’t even an interview because they just really needed somebody, and the guy who I knew spoke very highly of me. They didn’t really interview me.” These teachers received invitations to apply, or offers, even when they were not actively searching for a job or pursuing a particular school. Although there were fewer examples in San Antonio, one well-connected teacher was fast-tracked to a position at a charter school through a board member: He was like, “Hey. Let me call him for you.” I mean, not that. . . . Yeah, I had the credentials to get hired, but it was just nice to know someone. He sent my resume directly to the talent recruiter. . . . She brought me in and interviewed me. Basically, it wasn’t even an interview. I remember feeling so let down because I was so prepared for a hardcore [CMO] interview.
The teacher’s contact thus facilitated access to a job at a CMO that typically had a rigorous interview protocol, allowing her to bypass that process.
Some teachers were heavily recruited by charter networks. One TeachNOLA teacher noted a CMO had “been after [her] for a while.” Some teachers maintained these networks, even if they declined a position in the current year. As one current New Orleans teacher said, A friend of mine, he actually worked for the hiring team . . . and he offered me a job like two years ago, and I was like, no, I want to stay at my school . . . the principal was just like “when you’re ready, you let me know . . . we would love to have you at our school.”
One TFA alum in New Orleans referred to these positions as “shadow jobs,” where “you have to know people to get to [them].” These shadow jobs were tailor-made for teachers, as leaders sought to recruit them. These teachers received offers through their networks, which helped them bypass traditional application processes, even when they were not actively searching for a job, and thus did not go through an intentional job search process.
In San Antonio, however, while many teachers drew on their social networks, or what one teacher referred to as “the connection piece,” to access information, teachers’ networks in San Antonio were comprised mostly of other teachers, rather than people in positions of hiring authority, providing less direct access to teaching positions. San Antonio teachers also often had ties to friends, family, or church members, rather than professional groups. One current San Antonio teacher described how she did not use her networks in the job search: I never said, “Hey I’m applying here” . . . and my mom’s a retired teacher, and she retired from one of those school districts that I applied for, but I never used her in any of those contacts. It was just basically myself and then my references.
There were some exceptions, however. One prospective teacher said: “My mom is a teacher and she has connections with other campuses and other principals.” And some teachers were connected to leadership through family or friends. However, despite these few exceptions, most teachers in San Antonio did not have connections to individuals with hiring authority to leverage during the job search. And, unlike New Orleans and Detroit, there were few examples of teachers bypassing traditional routes for hiring or receiving offers outright in San Antonio, except for a couple of instances in the charter sector. As a result, in San Antonio, teachers rarely used their networks for legitimacy or direct access to positions, although they did use them for information.
Given the potential limitation that our sample of San Antonio teachers was more heavily concentrated with prospective teachers, while New Orleans and Detroit had more current teachers who may have had broader networks on which to draw, Table 3 further disaggregates network use in each site by career status. As evident in this table, current charter and TPS teachers in San Antonio were less likely to report using their networks for influence than current charter and TPS teachers in either New Orleans or Detroit. For example, over 60% of current charter teachers in both New Orleans and Detroit used their network for influence, compared with only 44% in San Antonio. Around 30% of current TPS teachers in New Orleans and Detroit used their network for influence, compared with 14% of current TPS teachers in San Antonio.
Network Use by Site
Note. TPS = traditional public school. We were unable to collect racial background data for one teacher in New Orleans. Uncertified teachers are included under alternative for the purpose of this table. We excluded two current private school teachers in New Orleans from this table.
Organizational Contexts
As we describe in the previous section, differences in the labor market contexts shaped the structure and use of social networks. In addition, teachers’ participation in various organizations, especially teacher-preparation programs (TPPs; university-based and alternative), also influenced their social networks (see Figure 2). In all sites, prospective teachers more often used their organizational networks in the job search (56%) compared with current teachers (25%).
University and Traditional Teacher-Preparation Programs
Traditional and alternative TPPs played a formative role in developing teachers’ personal and professional relationships; however, these organizations provided different types of direct and indirect support to teachers, which influenced how teachers used these organizational networks in the job search.
Many traditionally certified candidates across the three sites reported that TPPs provided general support for the job search, through job fairs, human resources staff, invited guest speakers, and guidance regarding workforce preparation (i.e., tips on how to contact employers directly). Some teachers found these activities and services to be “really good,” especially when they had the opportunity “to speak to some of the HR people from a couple of districts.” Yet, other teachers felt that TPPs “really didn’t help” because they often failed to connect teachers with hiring managers. Teachers indicated they wanted more active cultivation of a network in their traditional certification programs. As one current charter school teacher said, university programs “didn’t really say, ‘Hey, we’ll hook you up with this job, or we know of this.’” And because these indirect job-preparation activities often yielded less access to hiring managers, some prospective teachers felt unsupported, “like I was literally on my own” and did not rely on their teacher-training programs. These types of organizational activities were less useful to alumni when they were later in their careers. After 5 years of teaching, one San Antonio teacher said, I don’t go to job fairs . . . I have several friends that always reach out to me, saying hey, we have this position open. People I used to work with, they ask me to come on to where they’re working. Just like that. Not anything official.
As teachers’ networks grew, they were more likely to skip university-sponsored job fairs and other recruitment events.
Despite these limitations at the organizational level, teachers sometimes found individual actors within these organizations to be useful in the job search. This was true across the sites, but especially in San Antonio, where many prospective teachers referenced mentor teachers, field supervisors, and university professors as individuals they contacted for information or to facilitate connections. Traditionally prepared teachers in New Orleans and Detroit also mentioned professors who “posted about the job fair for charter schools” or developed new partnerships with schools for student teaching. One Detroit teacher used multiple university contacts (alumni, professors, and a mentor teacher) to get a job in her preferred school: “Being able to say [mentor teacher] recommended this place so highly and . . . how I worked with her . . . I think that that sort of elevated me in their eyes.” By developing and maintaining relationships with these organizational actors, teachers were able to gather information about job leads.
Field experiences offered one-on-one access to mentor teachers and field supervisors, individuals who typically knew the district context and could offer “inside information” that teachers were unable to access from websites. Although these organizational actors only served as intermediaries, candidates often relied on them to establish or grow their professional networks. As one candidate said, “my student-teaching supervisor, we’re all pretty much open with sharing information with each other . . . I am pretty close to the district that I student taught in.” Overall, university-based TPPs supported teachers by helping them prepare materials and hone their job search skills. However, the degree to which TPPs provided opportunities for candidates to connect with hiring managers varied according to the organization’s status, individuals within the organization, and its relationship with local school districts.
Alternative Teacher Pathways
In all sites, teachers from alternative pathways more often used their organizational networks in the job search. While TFA was programmatically similar to traditional preparation programs, the primary benefit teachers described was the ability to tap into its wide network of alumni. Yet TFA’s bandwidth to connect teachers to jobs differed across cities, based on the organization’s embeddedness in each site.
Because TFA had a large presence in New Orleans, teachers in this organizational network felt well positioned in their initial job search. Teachers commonly “reach[ed] out to [TFA],” which “connected [them] with stuff” or provided “resume feedback.” Teachers in both Detroit and New Orleans maintained connection with TFA even after they exited the program to find subsequent jobs. TFA also helped sort an overwhelming amount of information. A frustrated candidate applying to a number of positions noted, “Something I’ve been overwhelmed by is how many things I just don’t know exist. . . . That’s why I’ve been reaching out to TFA. . . . That makes me worried for people who don’t have that.”
Another alternative organization in New Orleans, TNTP, recognized that networks were vital in this setting and highlighted this on their website: “With thousands of TNTP-trained teachers throughout the city, Fellows are likely to have helpful alumni in their schools. Both promote their vast local and national network as a perk of choosing the program” (TNTP Teaching Fellows, 2017). Teachers’ experiences with TeachNOLA, however, were varied in terms of how useful the network was in the job search. Several teachers received offers from summer job fairs and site visits, sometimes receiving jobs “right then and there.” But other teachers found these events to be “not the most supportive, because they’ll set up job fairs for you . . . but . . . they tell you it’s on you to get a job, doing this program is no guarantee of getting a job.” Several teachers echoed this sentiment and noted that the job search process was conducted “primarily on my own.” While TeachNOLA had a “list of partner schools,” which “made the job search easy ‘cause you just kind of see . . . what schools would actually take you,” it also limited teachers’ ability to select schools based on person-job fit. In particular, one candidate noted that TeachNOLA could help her by having more “contacts, because not every school is a good fit for somebody.”
In all three sites, alumni and cohort networks in TFA and TeachNOLA were important organizational structures that drove teachers’ use of social networks, but the extent of their influence varied by context. Cohorts with larger numbers were especially well-connected in New Orleans and Detroit, but less so in San Antonio. TFA’s presence in San Antonio was less vast and embedded in the local teacher labor market, where teachers used TFA’s organizational supports for information and initial job placement, rather than leveraging connections with particular schools. Even with TFA’s school partnerships, teachers still had to apply to be selected from “a giant pool” of TFA applicants. However, TFA’s partnership with charter schools proved helpful in finding a job. As one teacher noted, “[Charter Network] and Teach For America run side by side in terms of the beliefs and ideologies that resonate throughout both those institutions. They’re very aligned in terms of mission.” This connection thus facilitated “fit.”
Across the sites, teachers relied heavily on these organizational supports to establish and grow their own professional network. In theory, TPPs are likely to serve as a frontline network for teachers, but differences in how actively the program cultivated their teachers’ networks, the organization’s embeddedness in the local teacher labor market, and individual actors within the organizations created differential access to hiring managers and uses of organizational networks.
Downsides of Tight Networks
While we found that access to networks aided teachers in the job search process, as the examples above illustrate, allowing teachers to bypass traditional hiring pathways to receive positions, these same practices and patterns also excluded others, those without strong social ties in the system, from access to teaching positions. We found that teachers who were new to the city, or had no “close” contacts in the area, did not have the same access to opportunities, and felt locked out. In San Antonio, few teachers used their networks to access positions, but they did note that they felt disadvantaged due to a lack of connection. One teacher, who sought to return to teaching after a number of years, said the following when asked about her connections: It’s been some time now that I was in the schools, and a lot of people have moved, so that’s why I say when I apply in the districts today, I am having to start just like a beginning teacher who has no idea about what is actually going on there.
Others echoed the idea. One prospective teacher said, “I think people tend to know who they want to fill a position before they even open the position.” Another teacher, who had 5 years of teaching experience, said: I’m thinking a lot of time it’s the contacts you have, who you know. This is the fear I have, that many times they have someone in mind . . . before they start interviewing. . . . If they don’t know me, I have a lot less chances of even getting an interview.
In Detroit, one current teacher noted, “The people who were getting positions were people who . . . had the right connections or had some sort of social something they could bring whereas I did not.” Similarly, in New Orleans, the only people who did not talk about using their social networks were newcomers to the city. One teacher, who had not found a position after a year of searching, noted that he had no personal or professional contacts: The majority of the people that I’ve talked to . . . have been either at job fairs or instructors that I’ve met. But nothing really professional where they know what my teaching ability is, where they’ve either worked with me or observed me. So I am limited there.
The same tight social networks that provided opportunities for teachers in the New Orleans educational community thus may serve to exclude outsiders from the same benefits.
Teachers wanting to switch sectors (from urban to suburban districts, or charter to traditional) also experienced challenges with access, particularly in Detroit. For example, one teacher noted that she had been working in low-performing schools with “inner-city” kids for several years, and was now looking for a higher performing school, but did not have any ties there, in contrast to the wide network she had within her sector. While networking was common in the charter sector, some teachers also perceived that TPSs had their own impenetrable networks. In Detroit, teachers described the public school system as a tight power structure or “in-crowd,” which was hard to break into. A current charter school teacher in Detroit said she had “always envisioned” herself in a public school, but noted, “I’m not born into a public school family, I’m not the kid of an administrator. I feel like a lot of that comes into play.”
Another aspect of the downside of social networks relates to the potential restrictions on individuals in groups with strong ties, including a strong sense of loyalty. For example, the reform network in New Orleans was small, “everyone knows everyone,” which disadvantaged those seeking to quietly seek new opportunities. In both Detroit and New Orleans, teachers were afraid of being seen at job fairs. One current charter school teachers in Detroit said: “I’m an at-will employee. If someone sees me there, I could get fired.” The tight network among educators in the New Orleans charter sector meant that those seeking to move to a new job often had a hard time keeping that secret, jeopardizing their current position. For example, one TFA alum in New Orleans said she had a conversation on the phone with a principal about a position at another school, but then “three weeks later, my principal confronted me” about attempting to leave. In a similar case, the principal from the school a New Orleans TFA alum was leaving talked to the principal at the school he was considering, and then his current school “ambushed” him to talk about his future. There were also tacit antipoaching agreements between some schools, which benefit administrators trying to reduce turnover, but may put teachers in a more difficult position and make them less likely to use their networks to secure positions.
Similarly, in Detroit, one TFA alum noted she did not use her connections to leaders because “principals are networky,” and may talk to one another, which made it “extremely hard to get a transfer” in the district. Another current teacher was afraid of applying due to the strong networks among charter school leaders in Detroit: “A big part of my stress came from fear of the reaction that I would get from my current school if they found out along the way.” Teachers were thus fearful of being seen publicly applying for jobs in the “small world” of charters. In these ways, then, there were downsides to the strong social networks between administrators in cities such as New Orleans and, to a lesser extent, Detroit.
A heavy reliance on networks in the job search can have downsides if these practices exacerbate inequities in job access by, for example race and gender. Teachers of color in our sample relied more heavily on their organizational ties, and were less likely to use their networks for information or influence, compared with White teachers. This was primarily driven by patterns in San Antonio and New Orleans. Although the teachers of color in our sample were hesitant to attribute challenges in the job search to discrimination, some White teachers noted the role their privilege played in securing a position. One White teacher said, I’m a White man and the cards are stacked in my favor, especially when it comes to science. . . . There are people with much stronger foundations in science than me, and I’m sure that my gender has to do with people’s assumptions about my capacity in that area.
Although we saw few differences in network use by gender in the search for teaching positions, some female teachers did note that they perceived barriers to advancement in their current schools. One San Antonio teacher noted that because her main supervisors were male, she felt her “chances of advancing to something else are pretty slim.” Another San Antonio teacher noted that “male teachers hold more authority.” Teachers noted that this “was definitely more of a subconscious thing,” similar to implicit bias in the hiring and promotion process.
Discussion
By illuminating the role of teachers’ social networks in their job search processes in fragmented districts, this study examines one dimension of how choice policies can revamp teacher labor markets. By applying concepts from social network theory, this study generates new understandings of how teachers choose to teach in certain schools and how their social networks shape these decisions. The findings from this study contribute to theory and research on teacher labor markets, where the literature has largely neglected the role of social factors in teacher placements and mobility.
Our data indicate substantial use of social networks in the teacher job search. Teachers used their connections for both information—identifying available positions and their characteristics—and influence in getting a job offer. This is consistent with previous sociological research on the importance of social networks in other occupations (Granovetter, 1973; Trimble & Kmec, 2011). Teachers cultivated connections to access information about jobs and maintained constant chatter about available jobs and conditions in schools, which reflects both the formal and informal ways in which networks are used to find jobs in the private sector (Ioannides & Datcher Loury, 2004). The importance of social networks in the teacher job search extends prior research on how teachers’ job searches are socially and culturally embedded (Cannata, 2011) to describe the mechanisms by which networks are used in the job search.
One reason that teachers gave for using their networks to find a job is that they thought having a connection to a school gave them legitimacy as an applicant. Indeed, many charter schools offer referral bonuses when current teachers help to recruit new teachers (Jabbar, 2018; Podgursky & Springer, 2011). The legitimacy provided through a network is important where the ability or productivity of a job seeker is not observable but might be associated with that of the recommender (Castilla et al., 2013). Furthermore, teachers also reported using their network to obtain reliable information on school conditions. Whether or not the information was accurate, teachers trusted the information they learned through their connections. Trust is an important component of social capital (Coleman, 1988), and served as a foundation for the ways social networks were thought to be helpful in the job search, either through providing trustworthy information or in getting someone with hiring authority to trust them with a job.
Our findings also indicate that the use of social networks in the teacher job search varied by context. Networks played a more extensive role in the job search in New Orleans and Detroit, which had more fragmented labor markets than San Antonio, due to large presence of charter schools and other reform organizations. In these settings, teachers used their networks not just for information, but to influence the job outcome directly. This parallels studies of the private sector, which find that the “new economy” is network driven, with significant job mobility (Castilla et al., 2013), and that in settings undergoing privatization or market transition, personal connections and networks play a larger role (Benton et al., 2015; Chua, 2011).
In districts with expansive school choice, we observed high turnover, particularly in charter schools, and people leveraged their networks not only to improve their chances of obtaining existing jobs, but also to create new positions, tailored to their interests. In New Orleans and Detroit, teachers reported that they were always looking for desirable districts or organizations, or for a better opportunity. With the high degree of fragmentation and churn as charter schools expanded (even as specific charter schools closed), teachers felt the need to maintain constant chatter and always have “feelers” out for new opportunities. In contrast, teachers in San Antonio had stronger job security and the option of the district’s internal transfer policies, whereas teachers in Detroit and New Orleans were more likely to be on annual contracts. Charter school teachers in all sites more often used their networks for influence, compared with TPS teachers. In the rapidly changing teacher labor market in these cities, the greater competition for teacher talent and differentiation among schools may expand the role social networks may play in securing jobs (Hoxby, 2000; Jackson, 2012).
Another aspect of the changing teacher labor market is the rise of alternative certification programs. Similar to other research, we found that traditional TPP provided a “human capital pipeline,” allowing teachers to cultivate relationships through formal and informal channels (Simon & Johnson, 2015). These programs influenced the teacher job search through mechanisms such as student teaching, clinical training, and other university connections (Krieg et al., 2016; Maier & Youngs, 2009), which are common avenues for teachers to cultivate relationships and “get [their] foot in the door” (Krieg et al., 2016). However, teachers prepared through alternative programs such as TFA and TeachNOLA made much more extensive use of the networks, while traditional preparation programs tended to provide general advice on how to approach the job search. With access to a well-established network of education reformers, or “entrepreneurial communities,” TFA has garnered a perception of cultivating a particular ‘brand’ of teachers amongst hiring managers (Zeichner & Peña Sandoval, 2015), who may privilege certain actors in the job market over others, and which may explain teachers’ extensive use of the TFA network to find jobs.
There are also drawbacks to the extensive role of networks (Portes, 1998). Some teachers with small networks in education felt excluded from accessing jobs. Given the reliance on networks for information about salaries, teachers without social contacts may be less able to negotiate effectively. These patterns could create disparities in pay across teachers, particularly by gender, as found in the private sector, where salaries are also less transparent (Jabbar, Sun, Lemke & Germain, 2018). Strong social ties can benefit an individual actor but may have negative consequences for a broader group (Adler & Kwon, 2002), by, for example, excluding “outsiders” and barring others from access (Portes, 1998). Social networks can reinforce inequalities as individuals are more likely to help job seekers who are demographically similar to them (Calvo-Armengol & Jackson, 2004; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Cook, 2001). Introducing greater managerial discretion and informal recruitment procedures in the public sector may also create more opportunities for implicit bias, exacerbating racial inequalities (Wilson, Roscigno, & Huffman, 2013).
Indeed, as the teaching force has become more White and less experienced with the reforms in New Orleans (Barrett & Harris, 2015; White, 2016), the extensive reliance on networks raises questions about which teachers have access to the network. “Who you know” provides access to jobs only for groups that are structurally positioned to take advantage of those ties. Furthermore, changes in the policy environment can alter the power of teachers’ networks. When teachers were fired post-Katrina, the majority of whom were black veteran educators, their networks were disrupted, with teachers having to reshuffle, find jobs, some moving to surrounding districts (Lincove, Barrett, & Strunk, 2017). Black teachers were less likely to find jobs in charter schools post-Katrina (Lincove et al., 2017). The situation in New Orleans is unique, but in other settings, new networks, through TFA or other programs, similarly might shift or compete with older networks of teachers that may have comprised more teachers of color. There is an assumption that veteran teachers would have more robust networks given their years of experience, but with segmentation in the labor market, or these types of shifts in the landscape, those networks may not yield the same opportunities. Disparities in network power or access could create or exacerbate inequities in access to jobs by race or gender. Hiring decisions, and unequal access to job opportunities among teacher candidates, in part due to the reliance on networks, creates conditions where teachers who can cultivate a stronger network, or with access to the “right” networks, will have greater opportunity regardless of teacher quality.
Another mechanism by which networks can have negative effects on the teacher labor market is the potential to segment teachers into distinct sectors. Some teachers in this study described difficulty in trying to move from charter schools into TPSs, or the reverse, because they lacked access through their network. As the number of charter schools grows and local teacher labor markets become more decentralized, there is more potential for labor-market segmentation (Engel & Cannata, 2015). When this segmentation is combined with existing structural inequities in the labor market, teachers may be sorted into “high-status” and “low-status” job opportunities (Castilla et al., 2013). Furthermore, as particular schools or sectors seek teachers from “branded” networks (e.g., TFA), who have the same training, this may result in a lack of ideological diversity, limiting new ideas or diverse perspectives in education. Another drawback of social networks relates to the restrictions on individual freedom due to “demands for conformity,” loyalty, and the “level of social control” in groups with strong ties (Portes, 1998, p. 16). For example, we heard teachers express concerns about what might happen to their current position if their principal knew they were looking for another job.
Limitations
Our study has several limitations. First, we do not have data on teachers who may have dropped out of the labor force (i.e., discouraged workers), perhaps due to their lack of contacts or connections to schools. Second, while we sought to capture a range of perspectives, it was not possible for us to assess the extent to which our sample was representative of the pool of job seekers, particularly since many job seekers in these sites may be “passive” searchers. Finally, we were not able to recruit very many prospective teachers in New Orleans and Detroit, which may limit our ability to assess differences across those sites. Despite the sample limitation, patterns within each career stage point to similar patterns across sites.
Implications for Future Research, Policy, and Practice
This study has implications for future research on the hiring and job search process by suggesting that it is important how researchers define “applicants” or “job seekers.” Consistent with research in the private sector (McDonald, 2015; Trimble & Kmec, 2011), many teachers found new jobs even though they were not active job seekers, receiving unsolicited offers through their existing connections. This runs counter to much of the research on the job search, which implicitly assumes that teachers go through a linear or intentional job search process, where they first decide to look for a position, and then actively seek out opportunities that they decide amongst. Yet, we heard from teachers who bypassed traditional hiring processes altogether and moved jobs after informal recruitment from another school. These passive job seekers may not have officially applied (or did so only after the job was offered). In this way, this study challenges research on teacher hiring to carefully consider how an applicant is defined.
TPPs can also learn from these findings. Consistent with prior research, many teachers described steps taken by their university-based teacher-preparation programs to help them in the job search (Maier & Youngs, 2009). Yet, teachers were often dissatisfied with these activities, wanting more direct ties to schools. This contrast was especially apparent with TFA, and its deep alumni network. Traditional, university-based preparation programs may want to cultivate the same type of active alumni network to support their candidates in the job market, not only in their first job search but also for subsequent searches.
Finally, principals and other hiring managers in charter schools may want to consider what benefits they receive from relying on referrals to hire new teachers. The use of referral programs suggests principals do think using networks to hire teachers is worthwhile (Engel & Finch, 2015), which is consistent with research on the private sector regarding how referrals provide legitimacy (Castilla et al. 2013). Yet, if teachers bypass traditional hiring processes, the use of networks may contribute to the information-poor nature of teacher hiring even as richer information is available about teacher applicants (Liu & Johnson, 2006). These practices also have implications for teacher quality and equity if schools and teachers are matched through network signals, not necessarily based on the best candidates or best fit. A heavy reliance on segregated networks could exacerbate inequity and impede efforts to increase teacher diversity, as teachers are likely to refer other teachers with similar characteristics. Future studies might examine how and why employees provide assistance to their peers, and how referrals informs employers’ decisions (Fernandez, Castilla, & Moore, 2000).
This study also has implications for teacher policy. By understanding why teachers opt to (or not to) work in high-need settings, and who the key influencers are in their decisions, we can develop targeted remedies. For example, this work may inform policies that can help teachers learn about different positions. Teachers’ need to engage in “constant chatter,” always on the lookout for new opportunities due to job instability, raises questions about how this detracts from teachers’ work and commitment to their current schools. Relying on social networks for access to jobs can also exacerbate existing inequities in the labor market by race and gender (i.e., an “old boys club”). By describing the social capital teachers access in the job search, our work identifies critical challenges for the recruitment and retention of teachers in fragmented districts with high densities of charter schools and may also have implications for traditional districts.
Supplemental Material
AERJ879092_Online_Appendix – Supplemental material for It’s Who You Know: The Role of Social Networks in a Changing Labor Market
Supplemental material, AERJ879092_Online_Appendix for It’s Who You Know: The Role of Social Networks in a Changing Labor Market by Huriya Jabbar, Marisa Cannata, Emily Germain and Andrene Castro in American Educational Research Journal
Footnotes
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References
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