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SmallerMUNCIE, Ind.- Ball State University has produced Indiana's first transition-to-teaching graduates, a program that is a national model for urban schools, says one Indianapolis educator.
The transition-to-teaching program, created by a congressional mandate and endorsed by the Indiana Consortium of Education Deans, allows non-teachers with bachelor's degrees to gain their teaching certificate in approximately 18 months.
In a partnership with Ball State, Indianapolis Public Schools enrolled 18 of its permanent substitute teachers, full-time teachers who roam from school to school, in the program. Nine completed the rigorous course and are in the process of applying for their teaching licenses.
Once they have their licenses, they will lose their itinerant status and have a single school to call "home," said Mary Ann Jones, supervisor of Indianapolis Public School's Center for Professional Growth.
The partnership with Ball State and the program are models for urban schools, she added.
"We identified schools and subjects where we were shorthanded," Jones said. "Then we 'grew' our own teachers, ones who already knew the challenges and rewards of our district, and trained them to fill those positions."
The program will help offset the impending teacher shortage, said Charles Payne, Ball State professor of educational studies. It provides an alternate path for "natural" instructors to return to college and become licensed professionals.
To ease the career transition, Ball State received a $122,000 grant from the Indiana Professional Standards Board that helped defer the students' cost of tuition and books.
When Geeta Jacob, an English and social studies teacher from India, immigrated to the United States, she wondered how she would continue her teaching career. After working for IPS as a permanent substitute for the last four years, she knew that the program was the ticket to returning to the status of a professional full-time teacher.
"The program has been a godsend for me," Jacob said.
Jacob has completed the program and is awaiting her teaching license in the mail. Once she has her license, she will teach English at Forest Manor Middle School.
After teaching at more than 60 IPS buildings over the last four years, Kevin Sandorf is looking forward to settling down to one - Coleman Middle School - and teaching language arts.
Sandorf graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University. After selling his business, the successful entrepreneur decided to become a teacher. He may have left the corporate world, but he maintained the drive that made him successful, Jones noted.
"Kevin is energetic and enthusiastic," Jones said. "He really wants to make a difference with urban children."
Not only has Sandorf completed the course and readied himself to become a teaching professional, but he is also acting as a mentor for the next group of students going through the program. Taking two classes a week while teaching full time is demanding, tests time-management skills and is not for everyone, Sandorf said.
"People find out in a hurry that this course is not for the weak or the weary," Sandorf said. "But if you're giving 100 percent to the program and the schools, the principals see that, and you're going to get a job."
(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Payne at (765) 285-5466; Jones at (317) 226-4177; Sandorf at (317) 862-9392 or Jacob at (317) 581-9306. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)
By Layne Cameron, Media Relations ManagerThe transition-to-teaching program, created by a congressional mandate and endorsed by the Indiana Consortium of Education Deans, allows non-teachers with bachelor's degrees to gain their teaching certificate in approximately 18 months.
In a partnership with Ball State, Indianapolis Public Schools enrolled 18 of its permanent substitute teachers, full-time teachers who roam from school to school, in the program. Nine completed the rigorous course and are in the process of applying for their teaching licenses.
Once they have their licenses, they will lose their itinerant status and have a single school to call "home," said Mary Ann Jones, supervisor of Indianapolis Public School's Center for Professional Growth.
The partnership with Ball State and the program are models for urban schools, she added.
"We identified schools and subjects where we were shorthanded," Jones said. "Then we 'grew' our own teachers, ones who already knew the challenges and rewards of our district, and trained them to fill those positions."
The program will help offset the impending teacher shortage, said Charles Payne, Ball State professor of educational studies. It provides an alternate path for "natural" instructors to return to college and become licensed professionals.
To ease the career transition, Ball State received a $122,000 grant from the Indiana Professional Standards Board that helped defer the students' cost of tuition and books.
When Geeta Jacob, an English and social studies teacher from India, immigrated to the United States, she wondered how she would continue her teaching career. After working for IPS as a permanent substitute for the last four years, she knew that the program was the ticket to returning to the status of a professional full-time teacher.
"The program has been a godsend for me," Jacob said.
Jacob has completed the program and is awaiting her teaching license in the mail. Once she has her license, she will teach English at Forest Manor Middle School.
After teaching at more than 60 IPS buildings over the last four years, Kevin Sandorf is looking forward to settling down to one - Coleman Middle School - and teaching language arts.
Sandorf graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University. After selling his business, the successful entrepreneur decided to become a teacher. He may have left the corporate world, but he maintained the drive that made him successful, Jones noted.
"Kevin is energetic and enthusiastic," Jones said. "He really wants to make a difference with urban children."
Not only has Sandorf completed the course and readied himself to become a teaching professional, but he is also acting as a mentor for the next group of students going through the program. Taking two classes a week while teaching full time is demanding, tests time-management skills and is not for everyone, Sandorf said.
"People find out in a hurry that this course is not for the weak or the weary," Sandorf said. "But if you're giving 100 percent to the program and the schools, the principals see that, and you're going to get a job."
(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Payne at (765) 285-5466; Jones at (317) 226-4177; Sandorf at (317) 862-9392 or Jacob at (317) 581-9306. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)
