Professionals leave careers to teach in New York's toughest schools

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Will doctors, lawyers and others who quit their jobs to become public school teachers in New York do a good job? Yes, they are highly motivated and well-educated. No, good intentions aren't enough -- they need years of teacher training. View Results

From Deborah Feyerick
CNN Correspondent

NEW YORK CITY (CNN) -- It doesn't seem the best of career moves -- leaving positions in law, medicine and banking to become teachers in New York City's struggling public schools.

Surprisingly, a recent recruitment campaign by the chancellor of the city's school system to address a severe teacher shortage drew an overwhelming response from those professions and others.

The obvious question is why chuck a high-paying job for one that starts at $31, 000.

According to Chancellor Harold Levy, the goal of the campaign is to lure people from careers they have become bored with.

VIDEO CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on what New York City is doing to attract teachers Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Gary Tuchman visits an elementary school where students are taught to get along Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     INTERACTIVE: Related Sites: Online homework advice Related Stories: Education in news Help Wanted: Launch the interactive map to see which U.S. regions report the greatest teacher demand, and in which fields     MESSAGE BOARD What are your thoughts on the treatment of teachers? Is teaching a "calling"?     RELATED RESOURCE: 1999 National Teacher of the Year: Read Andy Baumgartner's e-journal, 'The Unsung Heroes'

"It's about feeling good about what you're doing," said teacher recruit Bill Neumann. "Money doesn't make you happy. I don't want to be poor, but it's really not about money."

Donald Maher said he chucked his 18-year career in law after he saw an ad that challenged readers to do something about the fact that the majority of fourth-graders in the city's toughest schools fail state reading and writing standards.

"It had my name written all over it," Maher said.

Barbara Cohen-Perry says her skills make her well-suited to teach.

"I'm a mom. I was a therapist in California and I have a business background as well. So the combination of those three areas, I think, gives me a lot of different strengths to draw on in the classroom."

"We don't have enough teachers being generated by the teaching colleges," said Chancellor Harold Levy. "We have no choice but to go outside the traditional means of getting applicants."

Education officials received 2,300 applications for teaching jobs after the chancellor's challenge. The response led officials to expand the program from 250 hires to 340.

The applicants attended a rigorous five-week boot camp in preparation for a teacher certification exam. Two hundred forty passed the exam and are teaching in some of New York City's most troubled schools. The school system gave the new teachers a three-year commitment and is help them obtain master's degrees, which would put them in a higher pay scale.

The 42 who took the exam and failed are also teaching in the city, just not in the troubled schools. They will get remedial training and will be re-tested at a later date.

The city is monitoring the program and will determine whether to conduct another recruiting campaign.

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