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Early Teacher Education: Students Get College Credit in High School for Education Classes

Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 09:01 CST

By Anna L. Mallory, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Feb. 16--Jennifer Bennett is almost exactly what state school officials want. The aspiring schoolteacher has at least a "B" average and works at a day care helping state children.

And, as a junior at South Charleston High School, she's already preparing her path to the chalkboard. Bennett is one of about 10 students in the Teacher Cadet Program, a state project piloted at the school.

The program, which was born in South Carolina, is an introduction for high schoolers to teaching as a profession. In West Virginia, the program is run through the Careers in Education Project, which is focused on finding teachers for the state's public schools.

After completion of the program, students will receive college credit. Those who enroll must have a 3.0 grade point average and submit two to five letters of recommendation.

"Before, I didn't know how I was going to get in [to teaching]," Bennett said.

This past semester, her initiation to the other side of the classroom has been brief, but fairly thorough.

She has spent time observing special education classes, learned about student needs and even created some of her own lessons.

At the end of class, she should earn credit at West Virginia State University for its education foundations class.

South Charleston Assistant Principal Michael Arbogast said he's pleased to have the program in his school.

"This isn't a traditional class where students sit in class, get a lecture and take notes," he told county school board members.

Students in the class use scrapbooking to document their experiences and in the spring they'll visit local elementaries to teach youngsters. A high school child development instructor teaches the course, and it counts as an elective for students enrolled.

The goal of the program, which costs the state about $5,000, is to cultivate early interest among budding educators and keep them in the state.

That's something that will be needed in the future, said Dick Clendenin, former Riverside High principal. He's now a consultant for the state and brought the cadet program here.

According to figures from the state Department of Education, in the 2004-05 academic year, 458 first-time teachers here came from West Virginia colleges and universities.

Still, more than 3,000 jobs became available that year. Data on how many state graduates stay here to teach should be available in the coming months.

Bennett, however, said she isn't persuaded to stay at home.

No one is saying the cadet program will remedy all the state's teaching woes. Kanawha school board member Bill Raglin is skeptical.

"I just don't think the problem of math and science is going to work in the real world by getting more students to matriculate in West Virginia," Raglin said last week.

Programs are in the works at four more areas -- Bridgeport, Huntington, Jefferson County and Parkersburg, and the colleges surrounding them, Clendenin said.

To contact staff writer Anna L. Mallory, use e-mail or call 348-5163.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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