We've shared a bit about our work as a charter school authorizer and education policy and advocacy organization in the Buckeye State.???? Fordham is also active in the Dayton community, supporting projects aimed at improving education in our hometown, something the Fordham Foundation has being doing for decades.???? One such effort is Project KNOTtT, a multi-state transition-to-teaching grant program that recruits high-quality professionals with bachelor's degrees to become teachers in hard-to-staff schools and subjects.???? In Dayton, Project KNOTtT focuses on getting teachers into the city's charter schools (and the need is great: nearly one-third of public school students in Dayton attend a charter school).???? Fordham helps recruit professionals to the program and serves as a liaison between the program staff and the schools (both those we authorize and those we do not).
The program is administered by a terrific team at Ohio State University.???? Following is an excerpt from an OSU newsletter about one of the many success stories to come from the program:
Robert Chenault of Centerville, Ohio, spent the majority of his career in pharmaceutical sales and sales management, supported by his bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in business. The fit was perfect, but the economy refused to cooperate."I was a top performer, but I experienced no less than four downsizings and restructurings during the late 1990s and early 2000s," Chenault says. "After my last downsizing, I decided to do what I always wanted to do, and that is to teach."
Principal Amy Doerman desperately needed a 7th- and 8th- grade science teacher for Dayton View Academy, an independently run K-8 public school in Ohio.
"Finding highly qualified middle school science teachers is extremely difficult. There are few applicants," she explains. "Teaching science is an art. It takes a special blend of subject area expertise, sound pedagogy and strong classroom management, especially for activities like hands-on experiments. Many times, applicants will be strong in one of these areas but lack in the others."
Chenault and Doerman found each other when he applied to Dayton View Academy online. The school invited him to interview and to teach a demonstration lesson in the classroom he now occupies.
That's when Dayton View hired Chenault, and he gained the support of KNOTtT, which supports an alternative pathway to teacher licensure.
"We were very excited to find a candidate with strong content knowledge and inherent creativity with hands-on activities," says Doerman. "We knew he could learn pedagogy and pursue licensure through Project KNOTtT during his first year of teaching. We were confident that our strong curriculum and teacher support structures would allow both Robert and the students to be successful."
"I have a passion to serve others," says Chenault, who is in his second year of teaching and is provided with classes in science pedagogy by KNOTtT partner Wright State University. During his first year with KNOTtT, he received e-coaching in classroom management skills.
"I care not only about dispersing knowledge on a particular subject," he says, "but also about the student as a whole person who has needs and challenges outside the classroom that often affect performance in the classroom. I have a passion to help them become better people, more productive citizens, and future leaders."
