MyEdMatch: Making a Better Education Match

Five months ago Munro Richardson left the Kauffman Foundation to co-found myEDmatch, a startup to solve the match problem in education.  Since launching a beta site in February, they’ve attracted 2,000 teachers and nearly 100 schools.
myEDmatch is based on the premise that fit matters. The number one reason teachers are leaving the profession is due to dissatisfaction with working conditions.  myEDmatch is a job matching site that doesn’t just screen for resumes, but rather the criteria that can optimize likelihood of a successful match: beliefs and goals. The site gives teachers and schools a Match Score that shows the alignment of their core beliefs about education. Better matches lead to greater educator satisfaction, lower teacher turnover, and better outcomes for students. The site allows teachers to build out an extensive profile (resume, videos, documents, and photos) that goes way beyond a cover letter and resume. Schools also build profiles that provide info that teachers really want to know (working conditions, mission, culture, etc.). myEDmatch makes it easier than ever for good-fit teachers and schools to find each other, whether close to home or far away.
Co-founder Munro Richardson was the former Vice President of Education at the Kauffman Foundation.  Alicia Herald was Executive Director of Teach for America-Kansas City. The press release is below.
 
MYEDMATCH DELIVERS UNPRECEDENTED ABILITY TO PAIR SCHOOLS, TEACHERS
Website uses often overlooked but important job fit criteria by considering mission, culture and goals
KANSAS CITY, M.O. – Today myEDmatch launched an online job-matching website to pair best-fit teachers and schools in a revolutionary new way. The right teacher in the right classroom can make all the difference, and myEDmatch brings the first information-rich resource for teachers and schools to learn about each other to improve the job application and hiring process.
Every year, more than half a million teachers in public and private elementary and secondary schools change jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Education. An estimated one out of two new teachers leave the profession after five years, largely due to dissatisfaction with their school environment, not necessarily because of low pay or issues in their classrooms. The expense of recruiting and training new teachers, which costs a staggering $7 billion annually according to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, paired with the crippling blow of losing new teachers just as they are hitting their stride, inspired the development of myEDmatch.
“My background as an educator, teacher recruiter, and executive director at Teach For America helped me realize how much we need the right teachers in the right schools to deliver on a promise of a great education
for all children,” said Alicia Herald, co-founder of myEDMatch. “Prospective teachers are not just looking for a job; they are looking for a meaningful career. And we want to make sure they’re in a school with the right culture and mission where they will be most successful.”
Fit Matters.  The cultural alignment between schools and teachers is often overlooked, but it is one of the best predictors of mutual success. myEDmatch has developed a proprietary matching algorithm that produces a Match Score to indicate the strength of mission and culture fit.
“A successful match involves the right fit between a school’s mission and culture and an educator’s background, expectations, and preferences,” said Munro Richardson, co-founder of myEDmatch. “We make the process easier and more efficient by providing more information and transparency to the teaching job search and hiring process.”
Key Benefits.  Teachers and schools can find their match in just three easy steps: building an online profile, getting matched, and searching for jobs and candidates. myEDmatch offers benefits to both groups:
Schools:

  • A more efficient, effective way to find top talent
  • Access to national candidate pool
  • A systematic way to learn more about, search for, screen, and cultivate candidates

Teachers:

  • The ability to find a job that is a perfect fit with their beliefs and values
  • Access to a broader array of schools in a centralized place
  • A more efficient, effective way to showcase their interests and talents

For more information about myEDmatch or to join and create a profile, please visit www.myEDmatch.com
About myEDmatch. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kansas City, M.O., myEDmatch was developed by former teachers and education leaders. myEDmatch wants to make it radically easier for educators to find jobs and schools to recruit top talent, ultimately solving one piece of the enormous puzzle to provide an excellent education for all children. For more information, visit www.myEDmatch.com.

Tom Vander Ark

Tom Vander Ark is the CEO of Getting Smart. He has written or co-authored more than 50 books and papers including Getting Smart, Smart Cities, Smart Parents, Better Together, The Power of Place and Difference Making. He served as a public school superintendent and the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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