Chad Segura is a major in the Air Force and says he’s loved his 14 years in the service, which has provided a good living for his family and allowed him to circle the globe.
But now, the kids are getting older, and the Texas native and LSU graduate says it’s time to settle down in Baton Rouge. So he’s leaving active duty to pursue his other passion: teaching.
“Teaching has been something I’ve always wanted to do. Now is the perfect time to do it,” Segura says. “I like the idea of helping shape what people will become.”
Baton Rouge Transition to Teaching, a project of the education nonprofit Advance Baton Rouge, was established late last year to help retirees, recent college graduates, and mid-career professionals like Segura become teachers without going back to school.
The program hopes to address the critical shortage of secondary math and science teachers in the East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena and City of Baker public school districts by finding people who already know the subject matter and giving them an alternate path to teacher certification.
John Rice, a former reporter with a background in marketing and public relations and one of two BRTTT project directors, thought he had a difficult sales job on his hands when he took the job. Teaching isn’t the most glamorous job around, and program graduates will be going to schools that teach a high percentage of at-risk students. But what he’s finding is that quite a few people are looking to transition into teaching, but are afraid it will take too long and cost too much.
The minimum application requirements for BRTTT include a bachelor’s degree and at least a 2.5 college grade-point average, along with passing scores on the PRAXIS I and PRAXIS II Content Specialty exams. The first test measures basic reading, writing and math skills, while the second measures subject-specific knowledge and teaching ability.
An information session, held Jan. 17 at the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators on Florida Boulevard, drew 23 people who were interested in the program. A second session is scheduled for Feb. 21.
Fellows [as the participants are called] will have to complete an intensive seven-week program from late May until early July, covering topics like classroom management and lesson plans and including guided field experience in area summer schools. If they complete the program, they could be teaching by August. LSU’s Gordon A. Cain Center will provide mentors for the fellows, Rice says.
Fellows teach with a practitioner’s license for at least the first year, but with full pay and benefits as a first-year teacher, and are considered highly qualified under state standards. To get full Level 1 certification, they will have to teach for at least a year, receive positive evaluations and attend seminars led by an experienced teacher in their subject area. The program costs $1,000 out of pocket, with the rest of the expenses covered by a federal grant and the hiring school district.
“We’re not running a cattle call here,” Rice says. “Not everybody’s cut out to be a teacher.” The grant calls for placing 30 teachers a year for five years, although Rice says he’d like to go into the private sector at some point to raise money for more teachers.
“I’m not going to ask anyone to give money until we exhaust the grant money,” he says.
During the 2005-06 academic year, only 64 people took in the entire state took the math content test for teachers, and only 28 took the test in science, according to the Louisiana Board of Regents, which helps explain the need. Every state and the District of Columbia have some form of nontraditional route into teaching, according to the National Center for Alternative Certification. Generally, such teachers address shortages in math, science and special education in rural and urban school districts, the National Association of Educators says.
Segura’s preference is to teach high school math in East Baton Rouge. Working in personnel for the Air Force—that’s human resources in the civilian world—and now teaching with the Air Force ROTC at LSU, his salary is close to six figures, so he’s looking at a pay cut of nearly $60,000.
“My wife and I had many discussions,” Segura says. “This is something that I’ve wanted to do. It’s something I think I will get enjoyment out of, and something I think will be fulfilling and rewarding.”
He says he tells his kids, “Money is not your worth. It’s what you do that matters, not what you make.”
For more information on Transition to Teaching, go to Advancebr.org.
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