New Jersey school districts struggle to recruit and retain effective teachers: One example in the news: Two months into the school year he state’s fourth largest district, Paterson Public Schools, is still struggling to fill 123 vacancies.

Yet Great Oaks Legacy Charter School in Newark has created a strategy that Executive Director Jared Taillefer has called “a little slice of a remedy to the teacher shortage problem,” that supports promising candidates as they complete the bureaucratic teacher certification process. Recently NJ Education Report spoke with the Director of Great Oaks’ Gateway to Teaching program, Ali Nagle, who oversees the annual cadre of Fellows. They come to Great Oaks’ Fellowship through Americorps to serve as reading and math tutors in the network’s rigorous high-dosage tutoring program and then, upon selection, enroll in Gateway. We asked Nagle, a 20-year teaching veteran who previously taught in New York City and Newark and is also the network’s Director of Curriculum, how this program works and how it can be a model for other districts like Paterson. 

Here is our interview, lightly edited.

When the Fellows come to Great Oaks, have they already decided they want to pursue a teaching career?

Not at all. I primarily work with about 90 Fellows who are placed in one of our three middle schools and there may be only five or six who come in saying, “I want to be a teacher.” For most of them who studied, say, criminal science or business in college, this is a new calling. They start thinking about teaching as a career after forging profound connections with the four or five students they work with. They get invested in their growth and start celebrating their successes with them and these relationships start changing the Fellows’ perceptions of what they want to do. 

How do you select the Fellows who would make good teachers?

Starting in October, after getting lots of feedback from classroom teachers and other supervisors, I start my relentless pursuit to draw promising educators in! I tell them that schools would be lucky to have them, that they’re really good at this, what a good job they’re doing. I remind them they came to the Fellowship in order to perform public service—there is no higher form of service than education. About 70 percent of the tutors I go after join the program, mainly because they are witnessing their students’ success.  They start saying, “I like this and I’m doing a good job.”

What happens after they commit to Gateway to Teaching?

In December, the Fellows who opt in start getting extra professional development twice a month and really start to situate themselves as teachers. In our first session I ask them to think about a teacher who influenced their lives in a positive way. But they remain tutors: That’s the beautiful thing about Fellows, you have the logistics of a small group of students, where you are mostly sitting around a table, not a full classroom where you are teaching 24 students and in constant motion. We work on mindset, instructional skills, classroom management, scaffolding, preparing for certification, studying for teacher certification tests. Also, because many of our Fellows have not had education courses, we dig deep on pedagogy and child psychology.

Just as important as those “teacher-y” nuts and bolts is that we build a sense of community and a support system. Someone said to me ten years ago, being a teacher can be really isolating. I remember being the only English Language Arts fifth grade teacher in my school. Gateway makes sure that you feel that support and sense of cameraderie because that’s what keeps you going year after year.

And as soon as they know they want to be teachers, we help them start the state certification process.

What is the next step in Gateway? 

Most of our Fellows apply to Teach for America so they can fulfill some of the requirements for alternative certification. We find out who gets accepted to TFA in late March or early April. If they prefer, they can also do a program through Rugers. The day they end their Fellowship they start their intensive teacher preparation program. 

Then they come back to Great Oaks Legacy in early August for more teacher training, a few weeks before our regular staff. We want to give them a longer runway, with extra preparation and to reinforce the teaching community that is Great Oaks. The alternative route certification process [with TFA] continues through their second year here: It’s a two-year process where they receive constant feedback and coaching.  

I think it is important to understand that many of our Fellows are not stereotypical TFA people. They may not have a pristine educational biography, may have been in and out of college. We consider that a huge bonus because of the diversity, both educationally and racially, they bring to our schools. There is so much value and opportunity for folks who might not have otherwise considered this profession. These are folks who are truly resilient, an immeasurable value for students who may be doubting their own abilities.[Ed. note:  Currently 65% of teachers at Great Oaks are Black or Hispanic; throughout NJ, 17.5% of teachers are Black or Hispanic. ]

How do you help Gateway participants get through the Department of Education’s teacher certification process?

We know that if they went to the DOE and looked at the requirements, they might think, “I can’t do this.” But there are new pathways and we are with them every step of the way. Remember, they have developed such a close community, such a tight support system, that they stay through the tricky part. You’ve invested more than a year of your life with your colleagues and you’re not going to quit now!

How many of your Fellows complete the certification process?

Ninety-five percent. While they may not end up teaching in Great Oaks or even Newark, they are bringing their talents and skills to other students. Right now one-fifth of Great Oaks Legacy’s staff members are former Fellows. We are truly a community of learners!