Georgia's crash-course education program prepares for second year

ATLANTA - After graduating from Auburn University with a marketing degree, Andy Rhodes bounced from job to job looking for the right fit. He was working at a hardware store in Atlanta when he heard about a new program that could land him a teaching position after just three weeks of classes.<br> <br> He jumped at the opportunity, perhaps too quickly.<br> <br> &#34;I wasn&#39;t prepared for everything they threw at me,&#34; Rhodes said. &#34;I didn&#39;t even want to teach fourth grade at first, but they were the only ones who offered me a job.&#34;<br> <br> Rhodes was one of about 750 people who went through the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program last year. He and dozens of others won&#39;t be back in the classroom this fall, but most of the new teachers made it through the year, and state officials said the program will continue to grow.<br> <br> Gov. Roy Barnes proposed the program, formerly known as Teach for Georgia, as a way to address the severe teacher shortage problem. The state funded the program&#39;s $500,000 startup cost.<br> <br> Most of last year&#39;s TAPP teachers jumped straight into the classroom after the brief training session. Skeptics wondered whether the stresses of the job and the lack of student teaching experience would lead a large number to quit before the end of the school year.<br> <br> State officials say they have not yet compiled statistics on Georgia&#39;s first TAPP term, but a random sampling of school districts showed most new teachers did stick it out.<br> <br> In Savannah-Chatham County, nine out of 89 dropped out before the end of the academic year. DeKalb County saw only two dropouts in their TAPP class of 137. At the Albany State University program, two out of 18 students dropped out during the school year. In Henry County, five out of 13 resigned.<br> <br> The samples, however, only include people who quit during the academic year. Officials say the number who chose to quit after the year and not return this fall - like Rhodes did_ is probably much higher.<br> <br> &#34;TAPP is not for everybody,&#34; said Allison Gilmore, who organized the program at Mercer University&#39;s Atlanta campus. &#34;In some situations, when a person is too idealistic, they are going to burn out too quickly.&#34;<br> <br> For Rhodes, who is currently looking for a job, teaching at Knight Elementary School in Lilburn was &#34;very overwhelming at times.&#34; He finished the school year because he didn&#39;t want to disrupt his students lives by quitting midyear.<br> <br> Still, test scores from his class were significantly lower than others at his school. Five of his students failed the Gateway test, a standardized test students have to pass to advance to the next grade.<br> <br> &#34;It was real hard for me to get used to it,&#34; he said. &#34;I mean, I hadn&#39;t been in elementary school since I was 11. I didn&#39;t really know how to handle it.&#34;<br> <br> Eligibility requirements for TAPP include a bachelor&#39;s degree, 2.5 college grade-point-average and passing score on Praxis 1, a basic skills test.<br> <br> But Rhodes said tests didn&#39;t prepare him for all the obstacles.<br> <br> A handful of his students did not speak English as their first language. One student, who spoke Mandarin, became easily frustrated and would often have outbursts when he couldn&#39;t understand as quickly as the other students, Rhodes said.<br> <br> This summer, more than 900 people are expected to graduate from 19 TAPP programs around the state. They will then be placed in hard-to-staff school districts, mostly in rural or urban areas.<br> <br> Heather Miller completed the program in Atlanta last year. After her three-week training, Miller decided the program was not for her.<br> <br> &#34;Although it was a tremendous kick-start and a great learning experience, I personally didn&#39;t feel at all prepared to tackle the classroom,&#34; she said. &#34;I didn&#39;t feel I was adequately prepared to teach after the weeks of training we received.&#34;<br> <br> Still, at its best, TAPP ought to work, said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.<br> <br> &#34;If you get the right person, this thing could be very successful, but if you get someone who wants to try it on a lark, you&#39;re going to find that teaching is very hard,&#34; he said.<br> <br> Callahan blames some TAPP flops on poor communication and a weak mentoring system.<br> <br> &#34;They rolled the program out in a very clumsy way,&#34; he said. &#34;They stumbled badly out of the starting gate and we were hoping they would be able to fix it midyear but they couldn&#39;t.&#34;<br> <br> In Bibb County, the school board decided to take a hands-on approach to TAPP, setting aside $200,000 from its own budget to provide qualified mentors.<br> <br> &#34;The reality hits in October or November that, &#39;Jeez, this is a challenging job,&#39;&#34; said Tom Keating, assistant superintendent. &#34;We are trying to salvage people who are having second thoughts.&#34;<br> <br> TAPP teachers in Bibb County must meet one night a week and can choose to meet with their mentors as often as they want. Once a month, TAPP teachers get together to discuss the frustrations of the job.<br> <br> Last year, Bibb County had 51 TAPP teachers. Of those, 46 are returning and another 55 new applicants have gone through training.<br> <br> &#34;It hasn&#39;t been all flowers, but you don&#39;t want a lose, lose situation,&#34; Keating said. &#34;We still have a lot of vacancies and this, for the most part, seems to be working. Well, at least in Bibb County.&#34;<br>