Ready To Teach

Ready To Teach

Howard University, an historically black college in Washington DC, has created a program called Ready to Teach (RTT) which is a national consortium created in collaboration with Chicago Public Schools and several other districts around the country with the purpose of increasing the number of teachers from underrepresented populations in high-need content areas in high need local education agencies.  So this is what I would refer to as a DOUBLE focus. RTT will attempt to recruit and train 100 (approx. 20 per year) recent college graduates and mid-career changers to pursue teaching certification in high-need subject areas, specifically, English, Reading, Special Education, Science, or Mathematics, at the middle and secondary levels. RTT will recruit and train a diverse pool of teacher candidates, with a focus on African-American males, via an alternate route to teacher certification program. This can also lead to a master’s degree in education. Participants will be provided an intense summer institute, field-based experiences, online pedagogy, subject-specific workshops, faculty mentors, PK-12 school-based mentors, and a blog. RTT will induct, monitor, and mentor the teacher candidates through the program and the initial year of their teaching appointment. Now how innovative is that!