Fellowship Striving to Change Teacher Prep

Candice B. Kissinger spent some 35 years as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. Jeremy M. Sebens, with a degree in aerospace engineering, worked in the oil industry and for a company building radio-controlled model airplanes. Hwa Y. Tsu majored in engineering and has done graduate-level biomedical research.

All three are now part of Indiana's teaching workforce through an intensive fellowship program that prepares individuals with STEM expertise—whether career-changers or those fresh out of college—for jobs in secondary schools serving disadvantaged populations.

At the same time, the program, first announced in 2007, strives to promote changes in university-based teacher preparation, including extensive clinical experiences in public school classrooms, analogous to...