Newark Public Schools Teacher Interview Questions
& Process

It was very intense, they wanted the best of the best. It was more curricular oriented, looking for in-depth knowledge and convincing capabilities. It's great to be part of this school, looking forward for feedback.

My path to this job was a bit different. I first went through Teach For America for an interview, and then I had another interview at the school itself, which included a sample lesson and a written exercise. They offered me the job over the phone, and only then did I complete the official Newark Public Schools application.

The recruiting program in Newark is known to be tough, and many applicants don't see it as their first choice, often considering it a backup plan, which was my case. The district isn't known for outstanding pay. They should aim to make a good impression during interviews. I arrived ten minutes early but was told I was late, indicating poor communication between the scheduler and the principal. The principal then left me in a room for 10-20 minutes, returned, and sat in silence reading my resume for about 30 minutes. It was quite uncomfortable. I was then asked to do a demo lesson, with the explicit instruction that no intervention would be provided if a child misbehaved. Given my decade-plus of experience in teaching, supervision, and training, I found this unprofessional, especially as an interviewing teacher wouldn't know about individual student needs (like IEPs) or school behavior policies. Some schools intentionally create disruptive situations during demo lessons to test interviewees, which is stressful. In this interview, a principal and two mentor teachers observed my lesson. My specialty is creative arts, so I had the children moving for a language arts activity. While this lesson usually goes well, many students didn't listen, partly because the teacher's attention system differed from my own. This led to wasted time trying to adapt. The observers provided an observation review afterwards, which felt unnecessary. I was criticized for saying a noun is a 'person, place, AND thing' instead of 'person, place, OR thing,' and for allegedly endangering the children by letting them move. The children were restless but not in danger; they were simply moving as kids do. The principal's condescending tone was offensive, and I wouldn't want to work in a district that treats its teachers this way. Despite my lesson not going perfectly, their interviewing skills were extremely poor. I ended up accepting an admin position at a prestigious private school instead, learning the importance of treating staff with respect to foster loyalty and retention.