Stockton to Teach Veterans to Teach
The Press of Atlantic City
Diane D'Amico
December 15, 2011
The pilot program aims to get jobs for former service members and more men and minorities into elementary and middle schools.
Richard Stockton College would host a pilot program to train military veterans to become teachers under a state bill designed to create jobs for veterans and put more men into classrooms, especially in urban districts.
Stockton provost Harvey Kesselman said the college would recruit 20 to 25 veterans who had served since September 11, 2001, under the VETeach Pilot Program. The students would take some courses with Stockton students, but also would have some course targeted specifically for their needs. They also would have access to Stockton's veterans' support program and housing.
The bill's goal is to have the students graduate within 36 months or four semesters, certified and ready to teach. Stockton currently offers a teacher education program but it is a post-graduate program.
Kesselman said they are looking for qualified veterans who have no or little college experience and want to teach either elementary or middle school in high-demand areas such as math and science. He said the veterans would get experience in urban schools with the goal of having some graduates obtain jobs in urban schools where they can also be role models for the students.
While the program will be open to all veterans, the program also wants to recruit more men and minorities to work in elementary and middle schools, where they are typically under-represented.
VETeach is being coordinated through the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities' Operation College Promise program, which was set up to assist veterans in attending college. The veterans' education expenses would be covered by the Post 9/11 GI Bill.
Operation College Promise Project Director Wendy Lang said they approached Stockton for the first program because the college has strong veteran support services. She said the long-term goal is to develop programs in all of the state colleges and create models that can be used nationally.
"We are looking at education-to-employment issues," she said. "The goal is to get veterans into college, out in a timely manner, and right into jobs."
The bill cites U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing the unemployment rate for veterans who served since September 11, 2001, was more than 11 percent in 2010, but the rate for veterans with higher levels of education was lower than for veterans with less education.
The bill to set up the program was approved Monday by the Assembly Education Committee. The Senate version has not yet been reviewed but is co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, co-chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Lang said she would like to see the program approved by the full Legislature during the lame-duck session that ends in January so that Stockton will have time to set up the program and recruit students to begin classes in September 2012.
At the end of the pilot program, the state Education commissioner would be required to report on the number of veterans who enrolled and the number who graduated and obtained teaching jobs. The report also would recommend whether the program should be continued on a permanent basis.
Contact Diane D'Amico (609) 272-7241 DDamico@pressofac.com
Source: The Press of Atlantic City, Pages C1, Region B - December 15, 2011