California Could Tap Industry for Teachers

Hoping to plug gaps in California’s teacher workforce—which are expected only to get worse over the next decade—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing a $12 million proposal to recruit professionals from the fields of math, science, and technology into teaching positions.

Called EnCorps, and pronounced “encore,” the program is a partnership between the state and some of the nation’s leading corporations. Companies such as IBM, General Motors’ Chevrolet division, East West Bank, and Qualcomm will take part by helping to recruit candidates into teaching jobs and supporting them with $15,000 stipends for expenses such as books, tuition, and certification tests.

The program is also a next step for IBM’s Transition to Teaching program , which began in New York and North Carolina two years ago. Currently, 85 veteran International Business Machines Corp. employees in 17 states are taking coursework at 30 universities under that program, with the goal of finding classroom positions in technical fields. ( "Companies Unveil Projects to Improve Math, Science Learning," ...