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North Carolina Grooms Its Best Students to Be Good Teachers

October 3, 2011 /

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"I want to do everything I can to keep that child in class. If he’s sitting in the principal’s office, he’s not learning."

In 1993, when Mr. Williams graduated from high school in Goldsboro, N.C., with an A average and a 1,320 on his SATs, he had many options, but he chose the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program http://www.teachingfellows.org/ . The idea is simple: the state pays top academic students to attend a public college, and in return they spend at least four years teaching in a public school.

In the 20 years since the first fellows began teaching, the program has flourished. High school seniors selected for the program average about 1,200 on the SATs compared with a state average of 1,000. Of the 500 fellows chosen each year, about a quarter are black or Hispanic.

Mr. Williams said that once he was accepted, colleges competed for him. "They woo you like an athlete," he said. "We got the star treatment."

Michael Winerip

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/education/03winerip.html?_r=1&hpw