State to lure tech workers to teach high schoolers

Governor Rendell announced a certificate program yesterday that would encourage science, technology, engineering and math professionals to take mid-career breaks to become school teachers.
The plan is to attract current workers to be “residents” in the state’s public schools and assign them a teacher to be their guide as they impart their real-world wisdom to students.
The program would streamline the teaching certification process, made difficult in the wake of No Child Left Behind. The country is due to have a shortage of 280,000 math and science teachers by 2015.
Interested in teaching at your local high school? The Governor’s office provided the following requirements for eligible teaching certificate candidates:

• Bachelor’s degree in the subject area, along with at least five years of relevant work experience.
• Master’s degree in the subject area, along with at least two years of relevant work experience.
• Doctoral degree in the subject area.

Candidates would also be required to complete a four month crash course in topics such as childhood development and teaching strategies. Should the “residents” want to stay in the classroom after the three year certificate has expired, an option to convert the certificate into a bona fide instruction certificate.
The legislation was submitted to the state legislature yesterday by Secretary of Education Gerald L. Zahorchak.