A front-page story in The New York Times this week described a big increase in the number of people seeking jobs as teachers nationwide, prompted by the sinking economy and a wave of soul-searching after the Sept. 11 attacks. The most striking increase, notes reporter Abby Goodnough, is in applications to programs that recruit people from other careers, provide brief training, and send the new teachers into short-staffed schools, typically in poor, urban neighborhoods. One such program in Washington, D.C. has received 45 percent more applications than it had this time last year. The increased interest is also reflected in applications to Teach for America, which places recent college graduates in troubled urban schools after a summer of training. TFA has had its sharpest increase in applicants ever this year, receiving 3,000 by its earliest deadline, October 31, compared with 1,100 the previous year. For details see "More Applicants Answer the Call for Teaching Jobs," by Abby Goodnough, The New York Times, February 11, 2002.
