(Washington Post - December 13, 1994)

Steve Bate?s article "Reliance on Substitutes a Classroom Concern" highlighted what many professionals in education have known for a long time. When a teacher is absent, "the games begin." What was disappointing in Mr. Bates article was his failure to mention the ways that some local jurisdictions are attempting to deal with the issue.

For the past eight years, George Washington University and the Fairfax County Virginia Public Schools have been involved in a partnership to ensure that when teachers are absent the instructional program continues. The forward thinking of superintendent Robert Spillane and Associate Superintendent Alan Leis has allowed over 200 of the best liberal arts graduates to work in Fairfax County high schools as substitute teachers assigned to departments in which they have an academic undergraduate major.

These "GW Fellows" receive the equivalent of long term substitute teacher pay from which they get a stipend and free course work at George Washington University in order to earn a teaching credential. This university/public school partnership allows each of the "apprentice teachers" to earn credits toward teacher certification, be supervised by university personnel and mentored by master teachers in a "revenue neutral" credentialing process.

Most important, the academic instructional program continues in the absence of the regular teacher with young professionals who are knowledgeable and whose goal is to teach full time. Similar to a medical resident, the "GW fellow" learns how to teach in a model that uses real experience.

More than 50 percent of the fellows have been hired as full time teachers in Fairfax County upon completion of the program. George Washington University has entered into a similar relationship with the District of Columbia Public Schools ("D.C. Spirit") and is supporting 25 liberal arts graduates with a primary interest in teaching inner city youth.

Mr. Bates is right on target when he talks about the shortage of qualified substitutes and the need to adequately pay substitute teachers, but cooperative projects such as the GW/Fairfax County "Transition to Teaching" cannot be overlooked.

Jay R. Shotel
Washington

The writer is a professor of education at George Washington University and principal investigator for the Fairfax Transition to Teaching Program.

jshotel@gwu.edu