One School District Grows Its Own Teachers

Gil Tisnado doesn’t look the part of a rookie teacher.

First, there’s the gray hair, which tips you to his 46 years. More startling, though, are his moves in the classroom.

“OK, who can summarize the book in one sentence?” he asks his fourth-graders, checking to make sure they are on the same page--literally and figuratively--before launching into a reading session.

The former advertising executive darts among them, pausing only to whisper “perk up” in the ear of a sleepy-eyed boy who is using his desk for a pillow.

Tisnado asks: How are the two main characters alike? Different?

“April?”

“It’s about a little boy and a butler who go to California,” offers the smiling, pink-sweatered girl.

Down comes the world map and for five minutes Tisnado orchestrates a mini-lesson in geography. He calls students up to trace how the story’s fictional ship traveled around the Cape of Good Hope during the Gold Rush. Later, a social studies quiz will probe the students’ knowledge of the same period.

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Although he has spent only seven months as a teacher, Tisnado is clearly gifted. But don’t think for a moment that it’s sheer instinct that enables him to guide 32 students through a fast-paced morning of reading, writing and quizzes--even calisthenics.

Tisnado credits an innovative teacher-preparation program operated by the Elk Grove Unified School District that many believe could serve as a model for the state. “It terrifies me to think schools are hiring people who haven’t gone through something like the Teacher Education Institute,” he said.

Elk Grove Supt. David W. Gordon calls it “growing your own.” And it’s the sort of innovation that helped the district, on Sacramento’s fast-growing southern fringe, attract 2,700 applicants for 300 teaching positions last year.

Gordon simply was not satisfied with how education schools were turning out teachers--and how teachers could not seem to teach students to read well enough.

So the district set up its own training program in conjunction with San Francisco State. Would-be teachers now could earn their state certificate right at the district, taught mostly by its teachers and administrators and spending much of the time in its classrooms.

The goal? To produce teachers “able to hit the ground running.”

With California facing a huge shortage, other school districts have tried producing their own teachers. But it’s usually on-the-job training: college graduates with temporary teaching permits are hired to handle classrooms while taking their own classes after school and on weekends.

In Elk Grove, those who enroll in the 11-month institute certainly spend a lot of time in the classroom. But they are there to learn, not teach. Instead of doing double-duty as teachers, they spend their time taking courses in how to instruct math, science, the U.S. Constitution and especially reading, with an emphasis on phonics. Each trainee also is assigned a personal coach.

Of course, that means they don’t receive a salary. They actually pay $7,200--roughly twice what it would cost to get the courses for a teaching credential through a regular state university program.

Even so, Elk Grove’s program last year had 400 applicants for 100 slots. Some were fresh out of college, while others, like Tisnado, were seeking a career change.

One attraction is that enrollees get a leg up--but no guarantee--of a job in Elk Grove, which has become a magnet for teachers despite the challenges posed by its increasing percentage of minority and low-income students. Some of the reasons: aggressive recruiting, salaries that are among the highest in the area, lifetime health benefits, and stable, inspiring leadership.

Gordon is just the fourth superintendent since the district was created 40 years ago.

It’s a place where the teachers union, school board and administrators attend planning retreats together. And where a new fourth-grade teacher is a former ad man.

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During the training program, Tisnado had some frightening moments. Like the time he “lost” half his class during a bathroom break. (His directions were unclear.)

Or the flash of insight during lunchroom duty when it dawned on him that his new career would not be entirely “high concept.” At that moment, wearing his designer tie, he realized that the difference between success or failure would be measured this way: Could he cut open packages of catsup fast enough to keep the hungry first-graders happy?

Nearing the end of his first year in class, he has lots to learn. But he’s grateful for the start the program gave him, especially in maintaining classroom discipline and knowing what to expect of his students academically.

“I hear so many new teachers say they are so discouraged, and they start looking at the want ads and they want to quit,” he said. “For me, there wasn’t one moment this year that I wanted to go back to my old life.”