Posted 10/19/2009 - 01:07:20pm by MichelleHynes in Encore Colleges

The New York Times published two items of interest to the Encore.org community on October 15: Elizabeth Olson's article on "Taking the Fast Track to a Second Career In Teaching," and Nicholas Kristof's column on "Democrats and Schools."

Olson's article features the story of Wylie and Katie Schwieder, two Boomers who recently turned to teaching as a second career. Virginia's Career Switchers program, a grantee of the Encore Community Colleges initiative, provided a fast-track pathway for the Schwieders to apply their previous professional experience to new jobs teaching high school math and middle school English.

Nearly all states now have at least one alternative certification pathway, though Virginia is one of the few that specifically appeals to career-changers. Another is California's EnCorps Teachers Program, which encourages experienced adults to teach math and science in high-need high schools. South Carolina and New Jersey also offer examples of bringing experience from other professions into the highest-need classrooms and schools.

Nick Kristof's column suggests that these efforts to apply more experienced, effective talent to schools is critical. "We can't fight poverty without reforming education," the column emphasizes. "There are no silver bullets, but researchers are gaining a better sense of what works in education for disadvantaged children: intensive preschool, charter schools with long hours, fewer certification requirements that limit entry to the teaching profession, higher compensation to attract and retain good teachers, objective measurement to see who is effective, more flexibility in removing those who are ineffective."

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