Can we talk about some of the questions, for those of you that have taken it? When I was first interviewing, some schools had you take this online, where it was a timed multiple choice thing. Others had you take it in person/on the phone where someone actually recorded your answers, so you could explain rather than just pick a, b,c,d. Almost every district I applied to used it. Any district I did the online test for, I never got a call from. Any district I did the in-person/phone test for, I got an interview. Obviously I think I did a lot better when I was able to explain my answers, rather than trying to fit it into a multiple choice test. I clearly stink at taking the online test, as I literally never got a chance with ANY school that used it. I hate that, because I know I'm a good teacher. Yet everything else was tossed out because of some stupid test. So, I know you're supposed to be student-centered, honest an consistent (since they ask the same questions in multiple ways), but some of the questions I just can't figure out! I was just looking for jobs in a nearby city I'd be interested in, and every single district uses this test. I know you're not supposed to overthink it, but I was honest and went with my gut last time, and that clearly didn't work. So I took this over a year ago, but these are some I can remember...please feel free to add! Are you 100% loyal to your school? I'm not sure what they're looking for. If by loyal, they mean I'll publically support any decision the school makes, yes I am. If by loyal, they mean I do whatever the school says no matter if it's right or wrong (cheating on a standardized test, for example), then no I'm not 100% loyal. Something about how "positive" you are... The choices were something like "I'm the most positve person I know", "I'm negative some of the time" "I'm negative a lot of the time" or "I'm always positive." It seems like a lie to say that you are ALWAYS positive- I mean that's not even possible, right? Yet it seems like you're shooting yourself in the foot if you flat out say "sometimes I'm negative." Have you ever broken the rules? I can't figure out if they want "no", "yes under some circumstances", or "yes to help a student" Knowing that it's supposed to be student centered, I'm thinking maybe "yes to help a student", but again, what does that mean? It might help my student to give them a higher grade, but that's not something that's right. It also seems impossible to say you've never ever broken a rule in your entire life. What gives you the most satisifaction from teaching? Here, I would say seeing student growth. However, the only answer close to that is "seeing students graduate." Is this close enough? As an elementary teacher, it will be years upon years before that happens... Is it important for students to like you? This one I'm really torn on as well. One of the answers says something like "yes, this is an important teaching strategy" and one of the other ones says something along the lines of "I want them to respect me, not like me." On the one hand, I do think it's important to build positive rapport and relationships with my students- as I do think my kids do well because of the special relationship I have with them. However, if a kid doesn't like me, it's not the end of the world- I'm not going to bend over backwards and jeopardize my teaching (giving really easy assignments or "having fun" all day) just to get kids to like me. I also think it's very important for students to respect me as well. How do you convince people of your honesty? "I explain my principles to them" or "I don't have to convince people of my honesty." Who really goes around convincing people they're honest? Yet "I don't have to" seems sort of flippant to me. It seems like a lot of these answers would make you seem egotistical. Do you seek out private moments with students? This just seems weird to me. Yes, I try to build individual relationships with my students. I do sometimes have individual conversations with them about their specific interests. Yet, "seeking out private moments" to me almost sounds like they're looking to see if you're a pedophile or something! That just sounds creepy phrased that way. Also, in many buildings you're not really supposed to be in a room with just one kid- but then this insight wants you to be all student -centered and see them for their individuality...ahh! Teaching is... "as important as other professions" or "more important than other professions." I always chose "as important" because it seems silly to say things like doctors, nurses, firefighters, etc. aren't important too. But do they want me to think it's the most important because I'm sooo passionate about it?
Your answers seem fine. But you are right - you normally have to choose an A,B, C, D answer choice. Choose the answer that is closest to how you feel. That is the best anyone can do. This test is designed so that there are no right or wrong answers. However, it is designed to weed out potential problems that the school may have down the road if you were say not a team player, or a gossip, or a person who "liked" children a little TOO much (if you get my meaning)... This could save the school later on in hiring someone that would potentially sabotage the culture/climate of the school. Good luck. Again, choose the answer that best fits how you feel. Try not to 2nd guess yourself and go with your gut instinct. It is timed so don't overthink each question.
Well, to be honest that's exactly what I did last time and I know I "failed" the test. I'd never heard of it before I started filling out applications, so when I went to take it I had no preconceived notions or anything, and since it's so quick with the timer obviously I had to just go with what I really felt. I had a school that I had a lot of personal connections with, and my gen. ed. co-op teacher who absolutely loved me personally called her friend who was a P in another district to see if she would interview me (and I know she actually did it- because I was in the room when she made the call- and the person said that she would "have to" give me a chance if Mrs. ______ thought I was so good since she has such high expectations), and then when I applied I didn't even get an interview at all. I actually called the school to make sure all of my materials were received and everything, since I'd really been expecting an interview- and they told me they had received it but were unable to interview me because my Teacher Insight scores were too low. So I was hoping someone else that had taken it would be able to talk over the answers with me. I know it's supposed to be how you are as a teacher, etc. but what it comes down to is that this test is the difference between me a getting a job or not- not my experience, education, evaluations, references, etc. I can't even get them to look at anything else if I don't pass this. Almost every place uses it. When I was first interviewing, I literally didn't get an interview from a single school that used this test (since I was applying around the country and all over my entire state, I literally applied to hundreds upon hundreds of schools), yet got an interview from almost everywhere of the few places that didn't use it. If I stay in this state (which I may have to because the job market is SO much better here), there is this one specific city that I really want to live in. I've researched it and every district in and around that city uses this gallup test.
I'm wish I could help, but I feel the same way about the test that you do. When I first took it many years ago, it was called Teacher Perceiver, and was administered by a real person. I could qualify my answers, which was so much better than the computer test. I guess I've passed the online version before, since I did get some interviews, but I always feel uncertain about it when I am taking it.
I took a test like this for Green Dot Charter schools and barely squeaked by. It's sort of misleading.
This test is rediculous! I have had to take it many times applying to jobs and I think I have always failed it. There is no way that this determines who is a good teacher or a good team player. I know many teachers who have said that the test was stupid and they know that if they would have had to take it to get hired, they wouldn't have gotten the job. I have no idea how to answer the questions. I also think it is crazy that the person taking the test is never allowed to view their score. Why? The whole thing just doesn't make sense.
My county uses this also. After I took it, and waited for months with no calls about interviews, I spoke to my recruitment manager and she said it was not a pass or fail, it just helped them place the applicant in the right position. I was very worried because I had assumed that I had answered the questions in such a way that I would not be hired at all. Since I started my job today, that is not true. I do want to ask my P if she even looks at that. Seems a waste of time to me.
In many of the districts around my home city, there are SO many applicants (thousands upoon thousands) for one job that they just use that as a tool to figure out who to interview. If you're not in the top 1% of scorers, you get tossed out (I know this because they publically publish that this is how they use the test) I assume that's what happened with the district I referenced in my second post. I'm hoping that since the job market is quite a bit better out here (in the city I'm talking about moving to, I might have 50 people apply for the same job, as opposed to hundreds or thousands) they'll be willing to look at other things besides the test, and maybe as long as I don't score SO poorly as to raise "red flags" I might still get a chance. I think my resume is pretty good for a 2nd year teacher- especially considering that because I am a 2nd year teacher with no masters, I'm still cheap! It just makes me sick that no one will even look at that resume because of some silly online test! The district I currently work for btw, does not use this test or any other like it.
I've never taken it. But be careful--with some tests, you promise not to reveal the questions to others-- did you sign something similar when taking this test?
No, it's an online test you take when you apply for practically any job with an online application. They send you the link when you finish your application. Almost everywhere uses it, so it's public knowledge. These aren't exact questions either, just things I generally remember that I couldn't figure out what they wanted. I took it over a year ago. There is no statement about not sharing or any part where you have to sign or anything like that. I guess more of a general question for those that have taken it...it seems to me that many of the answers that might be the "right" one make you sound completely egotistical- things like "teaching is the most important job in the world," "I'm the most positive person I know" "I don't have to convince people I'm honest- they just know" "My students always like me" etc. Do they want you to pick those answers?
I could be wrong but when I have taken the test I've tried to stay away from some of those because they seem exstreme. I think it seems strange that you are trying to convince someone that you are honest. That makes it seems like there was something that you did to make people think otherwise. I also think that you can be a very good teacher and not always be highly "liked" by every student. I try to stay away from that one because it seems like a teacher that is highly concerned about being liked will have poor classroom management. Even though I might think that teaching is important to me, I am teaching students who will enter other occupations. Those are just as important to them. I can't remember the other options to the positive person but this one seems exstreme too. I've taken it several times and I think I answered it differently every time. I'm not sure about right answers but this is my opinion.
Yeah, that's what I thought too, but I know I stayed away from these extreme answers last time and didn't do well, so I'm thinking maybe you SHOULD pick the extreme ones? Some of the questions seem pretty straight forward as to what you are "supposed" to pick. It's these that I really got tripped up on, and clearly whatever I did the first time wasn't correct. I know I picked things like "I am negative sometimes" "every student doesn't have to like me" etc.
It's easily available on the internet. It is almost identical to the garbage personality questions that retailers use. What a travesty public education is becoming.
While there are no universal right or wrong answers, there are right or wrong answers for each district. The district puts in which answers and what kind of candidate they're looking for so they can weed out applicants who don't fit their vision or school culture. So, what may be a top score for one district may be a "failing" score for another. I had to complete the Gallup poll for my district, and while I remember thinking that there were some tricky questions, I just answered what I felt was the most "me". I didn't hear from lots of schools that used the Gallup, but that's ok because I love my school and my district that I'm in now. I think that if you complete the poll to best reflect what you believe and do your research when choosing which districts to apply to, it will be better for you in the long run than if you try and tailor your answers to the district and then it doesn't end up being a good match.
A few districts around here use it, and I've never gotten an interview after I've taken the test either. If you end up having to take the test multiple times, the scientist in me wonders what would happen if on half the tests you choose the extreme answers and if on the other half you choose the middle answers. It would be interesting to see which answers lead to interviews! (I mean, if you think you're going to fail the test anyway, you might as well have some fun with it!)
Gallup has "standards" for what it considers to be a "good teacher." It is a total travesty. Of course there are correct answers on this "test." You do NOT answer "honestly," but you try to "beat" the test by giving answers Gallup wants. By the way, the districts don't score them, and you have no right as an examinee to your scores. Some attorney out there should have cause to sue Gallup. Almost any exam you take, including exams for licensure and civil service exams, allows you to find out your score.
Actually it is the Gallup people who created the test. Gallup is known for its "teacher perceiver" interview tests, and it has this notion that somebody just is "naturally talented" as a teacher rather than the truth that it is a skill that is acquired over time. Gallup has a list of sorts of what it thinks a "great" teacher is. It's a bunch of garbage, and HR departments are now using the newer computerized tests to weed out candidates before they ever are considered for an interview. The Likert part of the test is the one you MUST answer strongly in either direction with few in the middle. There are definitely right or wrong answers in the tests. Don't demonstrate you are lazy, always answer in the manner that makes it look like you are in it for the kids--all answers must be kid-centered, answer in ways you don't make waves to administration, and so forth. You have to game the answers and not answer in any way that might reveal you may not be exactly what Gallup thinks you should be. You can look here to find the "themes" of what Gallup thinks a "great teacher" should have here: http://www.ehow.com/way_5782507_teacher-insight-interview-tips.html Naturally lots and lots of great teachers have been weeded out while lousy ones who know how the game the tests are allowed to interview and get the jobs.
Haha, funny you should post that...I just applied for a district I'm less interested in a couple of weeks ago, and I kind of did what you said here. It's a very good district, but I'm not sure it's the location I'd want to move too. With the tight market though I figured I should apply anywhere I was remotely interested and see what happens. I answered all of the extreme answers that to me sound very egotistical, "I'm never negative, I'm always positive, Every student will like me, etc." I also choose either "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree" for all of those types of questions rather than anything in the middle. It's been about 3 weeks and I haven't heard anything, so idk! The vacancies were "anticipated", so it's possible that they won't be doing interviews until they know specifically what positions they have. If I do get an interview in that district I will definitely post back here! In the past I have tried to be completely honest and that didn't land me any interviews, so I'm interested to see if this new approach does. The one section I wasn't sure what they wanted for was about goal setting. There were tons of questions about this so it must be important. They kept asking about how you set goals, are the standards you set or other set more important, etc. There had to be at least 10 questions on it and I'm not sure what the right answers were. I kept saying that I set high standards for myself and always met goals. Who knows!
You might be dinged on those questions if it uses the word "I." "I" is not considered a good sign. You are supposed to be self-sacrificing, a person who sees teaching as a "calling," and other such nonsense rather than as a profession that to be good at it requires skills that can only be acquired over time.
The test seems utterly stupid. I could launch into a long diatribe about the cultural underpinnings of this sort of aggressive nonsense , but I will resist the temptation. I am thankful that I got my last job over twenty years ago when we had not yet fallen quite so low as this.
I took a few of those insight tests and while I can't be sure, I don't think I fared well. I tend to overanalyze multiple choice questions like these and I could usually rationalize two of the responses. One thing that helped me though was the thought that any district that relied on those tests heavily was probably not a district that I would fit well with. If there are these kinds of hoops for applicants, just imagine the hurdles that their contractual employees must clear.
you do not understand how copyright law works. If I can recreate the test from knoweldge then I can spread it. Some med students were getting in "trouble" for doing this. They got together after the test and recreated the state exam. They were not guilty. And lets be real. It is not a proctored test. The answers are running around the internet. And how many of us have taken the test more than once. I am at four.
Yeah, my problem in my home state was that it was pretty much every single district used these tests, so I couldn't get away from it. I've literally taken it over 50 times. I am happy to see that around this state it seems that only a few districts I've applied to use it- at least the online part. That's not to say a first interview with them wouldn't be something scripted, but at least I could explain my answers in person. I did interview for one job where they did a "screening" on the phone, which was the urban teacher perceiver (very similar to this test, but made specifically for urban schools) and then got invited for an in-person interview the next day because I had enough "points." Of course I thought the in-person interview was going to be a regular "real" interview. Nope, it was the 2nd half of the teacher perceiver test, and they picked someone that afternoon (not me, obviously) so I know that's all they based their choice on. I can honestly say I wasn't too sorry I didn't get that job- what kind of school actually picks a teacher solely on a screening test?
I have nothing new to add to this conversation except that my experience is similar to yours! Most of my life since graduating college in 2003 has been looking for a job and I have taken this test I don't know how many times. Every time I take it, I never hear anything from that district again. I recently (Friday) found out that there is a pretty good chance that I am losing my job after this school year (I finally thought I was done with the job search thing after working at my present job for 3 years). I took action immediately and completed an online application that a lot of schools in the area use. Now my inbox is full of requests from districts to complete the Teacher Insight. I'm too scared to do it because it could ruin my reputation with the districts before I even have a chance to get started on my job search. With my licensure area, some districts have been known to contact people through this online application, even if there is no job posted or you did not apply for a certain job. (You'd think that would make it easy to find a job...but it doesn't!) I'm sure for these districts I'll probably have to eventually take it, but I'm trying to hold off as long as possible!
Teachers really need to contact an attorney and file a class-action suit against Gallup. This is not right to kill teachers' chances at a job before the process even begins using a completely subjective "test" where applicants have NO idea what the scores are. The "test" is an insult to teachers, reducing them to the level of department store retail clerks. I live out west and have not come across a district that has used this bogus "test."
Thank you so much for this thread. I recently found out (only because my co-op teacher forced the district to tell her) why I've been getting rejection letters before interviews. Yep, I "failed" the insight. I can't even express how much this kills my confidence. I have tons of references, exemplary marks on the licensure tests, and no one will interview me because I think too much on multiple choice tests! Gosh, I feel like a student taking standardized tests right now.
Since this has come back up, I'll repost something I posted in a similar thread. "56. Do you seek private moments with your students?" My answer: "Yes, they need that time" I hate this question because I'm never sure what they mean. Are they looking for inappropriate behavior, or caring and connection with your students? Might be harder for me because I'm a male. I just don't know. What do they mean by a private moment? No witnesses? I would never be alone with a child, as in, no other adults or children who could see us. Is this the type of behavior they are looking for? Or do they mean some one on one attention, even in the classroom when there are other kids around? This has to be my most hated question on the whole thing.
I have heard that part of the test is to rule out people who "like children a little too much" and this is the only question that I can really think would play into that, so I would think to answer "no", although in the past, I have answered "yes" for the reasons you have listed (want to get to know them individually, etc.) I have never figured out the "emotions in the classroom" questions, and I think that might play into this as well. The choices are something like "Yes, I am comfortable showing my emotions to students," "No, students need me to have a stable attitude," "Yes, I have told students about times where I felt emotional" or "Yes, but I am careful not to get too emotional." I have NO idea what to pick there.
