Accelerated Program Prepares New Teachers

Teaching will be a new career for Kathleen Betts, who used to care for plants at people’s homes and businesses.

“I got tired of talking to plants,” said Betts, 39, of Santa Monica. “I wanted to talk to people.”

On Saturday, Betts graduated from a unique accelerated teaching credential program.

She was one of 60 graduates honored at a special ceremony at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley. But she wasn’t the only career-switcher.

Other graduates left behind careers in law, entertainment and the military, said Phyllis J. Gudoski, a coordinator with the Accelerated Collaborative Teacher Preparation Program, a partnership between several Polytechnic schools and the Cal State Northridge College of Education.

The new teachers underwent an intense year of preparation-- teaching at Polytechnic schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District without pay during the day, and, at night, taking classes at Francis Polytechnic and CSUN, Gudoski said.

Although some students had part-time or substitute-teaching jobs, they opted not to use a Los Angeles Unified emergency teaching permit that would have allowed them to make up to $30,000 annually, Gudoski said. Their decision to enroll in the accelerated teaching program will result in better prepared teachers, she added. “We want them to come out with the tools to help them in the classroom.”

The teacher education program is funded with about $2 million from a five-year private grant and other funds from the school district and CSUN, she said.

The program also speeds up their accreditation process. Typically, students need about two years of education courses at CSUN, and they may not always have access to required classes. Students also got better one-on-one help from K-12 teachers and CSUN professors. “It’s an alternative means to a credential. It’s not the traditional route,” Gudoski said.

Gary Bolita, 25, who will start teaching at Sylmar High in the fall, said he often went without sleep because of the demanding schedule. But, he said, the effort was worth it.

“I know I can walk into the classroom and feel more comfortable,” Bolita said.