Schools

Reaching deep for teachers

A new Hillsborough program recruits from middle schools.

By LETITIA STEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published January 13, 2008

Ross Anderson of Sligh Middle School talks to his students about college scholarships. The goal in recruiting middle schoolers is to secure future teachers for challenging urban schools.
	[Carrie Pratt | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Carrie Pratt | Times] Ross Anderson, who teaches AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, at Sligh Middle School, helps put a tie on Traivon Allen. [Carrie Pratt | Times] Magnet school supervisor Susan King offers scholarships to students who agree to teach at selected county schools for three years. [Carrie Pratt | Times] Sligh eighth-graders Laneesha Owens, 14, left, and Qiana Francis, 13, listen to Susan King talk about the Urban Teaching Academy, which is modeled after a program in Broward County.

TAMPA - Susan King knew how the middle school class would respond even before she posed the question: "How many of you have ever thought about becoming a teacher?"

A few students snickered. None of the eighth-graders raised their hands.

Too many kids are bad, explained Rodale Robinson, 14, from his seat at the back of the classroom. Teacher salaries are pretty bad too, others added.

Not exactly an auspicious start to a recruiting session for Hillsborough's Urban Teaching Academy, a new high school magnet program for aspiring teachers. King, the district's magnet supervisor, came prepared for the challenge.

Did students know, she asked, that the average salary for high school teachers nationally is about $50,000? "That's in most cases with free insurance and 10 months of working," King pointed out, adding that teachers have great job security. "Starting to sound a little different?"

The clincher: She promised a college scholarship, including the cost of books, to successful participants who agree to come back and teach for three years in challenging urban schools.

Heads perked up in the Sligh Middle School classroom. Students heard a way to pay for college. Educators see a way to lure future role models back to classrooms where they sit as students today.

The teaching academy offers an unusual answer to dual challenges facing public schools - a shortage of teachers and the achievement gap between white and minority students.

"You can do that by recruiting students who are actually living what we're talking about here," King said. "Some of the largest issues we have in our district are students relating to teachers who come from different backgrounds."

Every year, Hillsborough has to fill about 1,500 teaching positions. Subjects of greatest need include elementary education, special education, math, science, English and reading.

Hillsborough's model for the grow-your-own approach is the six-year-old Urban Teaching Academy Program in Broward County. The concept calls for teaching educational theory to high school students and giving them hands-on practice in classrooms with younger students.

"It's not just a class that one day they'll use. It's something that they can apply maybe on Thursday if they learn it on Tuesday," said Malease Marko Berg, district coordinator for the Broward teaching academy. "It's that instant gratification factor."

Broward counts almost 400 students in its teaching academy program, now at five high schools. The inaugural class finishes college in two years. So far, almost all have been the first in their families to go to college.

Hillsborough's take on the program debuts in the fall at three urban high schools - Blake, Hillsborough and Middleton. Initially, students will take teaching classes at the high schools. They will progress to teaching at elementary and middle schools under experienced instructors.

The first classes are expected to be small, perhaps 25 to 50 students at each high school. In a few years, Hillsborough hopes to grow the program to as many as 300 participants countywide.

As officials recruit their first class, students are hearing little pressure to commit to a teaching career. King stressed that today's students can expect multiple career changes in their lives. At worst, they can rule one out before college.

"If you decide after two years that you really don't want to teach, we don't want you," King said, eliciting laughs from the eight-graders.

She encouraged students to talk to their teachers. In the back of the classroom, Rodale, who didn't like the idea of "bad kids," listened nonchalantly while passing notes to the girl seated across from him.

After the bell rang, he paused to thank King for the presentation.

"I'd like to teach kids, just not bad kids," said Rodale, who said he's planning to apply to the program. "It'll be fun helping kids out to be better."

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or 813 226-3400. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.

FAST FACTS

To learn more

Learn about the Urban Teaching Academy and Hillsborough's other magnet and choice options at www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/choice.

[Last modified January 13, 2008, 00:17:19]