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WPI JOINS TEACHER-TRAINING ARENAAuthor(s): Shari Rudavsky, Globe Correspondent Date: January 6, 2002 Page: C1 Section: EducationWORCESTER - Worcester Polytechnic Institute is better known for training engineers, but the college hopes it has designed a program that will land some of its students in a new arena: public school classrooms. To help combat the national shortage of qualified math and science teachers in middle and high schools, the school began an experimental program this year that will also prepare some WPI graduates to take the teacher licensing exam. "It doesn't make them better or worse than other teachers, but it does make them unique," said John Goulet, a WPI math professor who is coordinating the effort. Traditionally teacher colleges have handled the bulk of educating the state's teachers. But faced with a teacher shortage in some crucial subjects, state education officials hope the new program will become a model. "This is really setting a precedent for what we'd like to see more of and hope to see more of," said Ann Duffy, the state Department of Education's associate commissioner for educator quality. MIT and Williams College are considering starting similar programs. In 2000-2001, the Department of Education granted 60 certification waivers for math teachers and 46 for science. Nationally, 28 percent of math teachers and 18 percent of science teachers lack state certification in their field, according to Recruiting New Teachers, a Belmont-based group. Joanna Begin, a 20-year-old WPI junior, is probably the type of student that state and university officials had in mind when they devised the program. The Sheffield, Conn., resident, who is majoring in math, was drawn to teaching, but was not ready to earn a teaching degree. Then she heard about WPI's new teaching track and signed up. She has since revised her career goals. "I'm hoping to teach math to kids in inner-city schools who don't like math," said Begin, who plans to stay in Massachusetts after graduation. The program appeals not just to students like Begin who know they want to enter the classroom, but to others who may plan to seek industry jobs and want a fall-back profession. "We sell the program in terms of two career possibilities for the price of one," said Lance Schachterle, WPI's assistant provost for academic affairs. WPI's program mirrors a move in the field of education to emphasize mastering a discipline and then pursuing advanced pedagogical skills at the master's level. "Under the old paradigm you did your education program and picked up your content. The new paradigm is the precise inverse of that," Schachterle said. "We're ideal for that." One of the few hitches is an ironic one: WPI students are too advanced for the high school classroom. The college has offered math students brush-up help on the basics, which some may have forgotten, Schachterle said. Education specialists welcome the entry of nontraditional universities into the arena of teacher preparation. "I applaud WPI for making the effort. I think we're all struggling with what are the best ways to prepare and attract teachers," said William Dandridge, dean of Lesley University's School of Education. His only caveat is that the state hold graduates of programs such as WPI to the same standards required of other candidates. "Programs like WPI's must also be willing to make a long-term commitment to stand by their graduates once they enter the classroom," Dandridge said. "Too many new teachers drop out of the profession in their first three years, exacerbating the teacher shortage." For now, WPI's goals remain modest. Currently, eight to 10 students are enrolling in a spring "teaching methods" course, a prerequisite for the program. Eventually school administrators hope that the class will attract as many as 30 would-be teachers. "We'll never be talking hundreds of students, but if you get a lot of trickles, then it adds up," Goulet said. Students also must complete 75 hours of observation in the classroom and 150 hours of "practice teaching" in their junior or senior year. The program makes ample use of the nearby Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science, a selective high school for juniors and seniors. It serves as a training ground for the WPI students to observe master teachers and hone their classroom skills. For Abiche Dewilde, a WPI junior from Belgium, being able to complete the program on campus under the tutelage of Mass Academy teachers has proved a boon. Dewilde had planned to get a teacher's degree on the side, maybe through a summer program, but WPI's experimental program has set her on the path faster. Already, she has learned through a teaching methods course how to teach students about the heart by doing EKGs with new technology that attaches to a calculator. "We're used to all this technology, so we can easily teach students," Dewilde said. "It excites the students and that's what this whole industry is about."
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