Fellows program ushers in fresh crop of teachers
 

Greg Collins, 22, of Boston, calls plays in the Linwood Public Charter school's steamy gym. About 15 players run sideways across the court.

Collins is not a basketball coach but a new teacher at the Shreveport charter school. The recent University of Massachusetts-Amherst graduate learned about openings for teachers in northwest Louisiana and jumped at the opportunity to move.

"I wanted to get out of the Northeast and see another part of the country. I love helping people who are less fortunate than I am."

Collins is a teacher in the Louisiana Teacher Fellows program, which seeks to close the achievement gap by recruiting people from other industries to teaching.

Nationwide, people from other industries and recent graduates apply to be part of the program. More than 530 applications were weeded through. And, eventually, 28 people were chosen to teach at schools that need the most help — the charter schools and the nine superintendent-targeted schools in Caddo School District.

Christopher Ruszkowski, the program's site manager, said applicants went through a rigorous screening process. "This is a talent pipeline. It's built to serve the highest need schools in northwest Louisiana. So when they (fellows) applied, they knew they were applying to these kinds of schools."

The competition to get into such a program makes it prestigious in the eyes of the fellows. Potential fellows are screened and interviewed. Once they are interviewed, they are asked to do several tasks, including preparing and delivering a five-minute lesson, answering scenario questions in a discussion group, submitting a writing sample and reflecting on the experience in a final interview.

After being chosen for the program, fellows traveled to Shreveport and underwent six weeks of training at Southern University-Shreveport. For that week, they received a crash course in education essentials — classroom management and goal setting.

Ruszkowski said half of the fellows are from Louisiana. The teachers are hired by the charter schools — Linwood and Linear — and the Caddo School District.

After the training, the fellows seek employment and are on the fast track to earning their teacher's certification within one year through the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program. All the while, they are teaching.

"From June 1, 2009, to June 1, 2010, they (fellows) are giving of themselves to students. Our fellows are not clock punchers," Ruszkowski said."

The rigor of the progress continues as the fellows are hired in schools and earning their certification. They are responsible for increasing student achievement from 1½ to two grade levels by the end of the school year. If they don't, they will not be asked back for the next year.

"Fellows are expecting to be evaluated and critiqued," Ruszkowski said. "They know if students don't perform at a high level, they will not have a job."

Accountability is preached to the fellows, right down to how they will be compensated for the training. During those six weeks, the fellows are not paid and housing is not provided. They receive a $2,000 stipend at the end of their training and pay $3,500 to go through the certification program.

The accountability piece and the rigor of the program is the reason Linwood School Director Buck Magee hired teachers from the program. He hired seven fellows.

"The training they went through, in my mind, has prepared them to come in with unbiased classroom expectations. I saw energy, enthusiasm.

"They have volunteered to come out to parent orientation night. They have volunteered to help go out and knock on doors," he said. "They coach basketball and soccer. It's that type of energy that you need in a startup."

Kimberly Wilson, 30, worked at the Trio program at Southern University-Shreveport before joining the fellow program.

"I was particularly interested in closing the achievement gap," she said of why she decided to apply to the program. "I looked at the statistics, and it was shocking. It was an opportunity for me to make a difference."

Four fellows were hired at Clark Micro Society Middle School. Frances Kalich, 24, graduated from Dartmouth College and worked in finance before leaving New Hampshire for Louisiana. "Working in finance wasn't something I was passionate about. I wanted to go into teaching."

Steve Chachula, 46, worked at Starbucks in Jacksonville, Fla., before joining the program. He also has naval experience. His family was planning a move to Shreveport.

"I've been involved in military training and customer training. I saw a blurb about the program in The Times and saw the part about the recovery school system needing math teachers and males in the classroom and I thought 'Wow, I can do it'."

Although by traditional standards the fellows have had little training, they said they feel ready for the first day of school.

"I feel ready now to put it (training) into the classroom," Chacula said. "The training doesn't waste time. They show you what you need to be successful."