West Virginia wants more veterans in the classroom. Not veteran teachers, just veterans. State education officials are looking to expand their involvement in the federal “Troops to Teachers” program, which was created over a decade ago to encourage more National Guard, reserve and former active-duty military veterans to become teachers.
“Veterans possess a wealth of knowledge, talent, skills and experience that they can share with West Virginia students,” the state’s Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine said in a news release. “Many of them have science, math and engineering backgrounds that we desperately need. They also bring a world view to the classroom that works well with our 21st Century Learning initiative to help our children succeed in a global economy.”
I have to admit that I utterly was unaware of this program, which sounds like a rock-solid idea. It’s surprising to hear it’s been in existence since 1994. A study cited on the TTT web site gives the program high marks for bringing more men, more minorities to education, as well as more teachers in inner cities, especially in special education, math and science.
I’d invite anyone involved in the program to post more about it.
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Anecdotally, I knew a few teachers who were former military. One came through TFA, and I believe the others were either through Troops to Teachers or another alt-cert program. Most interesting to me was that I expected them to be, well, drill sergeants with the kids. The teachers-veterans I saw were actually good with the kids - tough but fair kind of folks. And yes, there was definitely an influx of males, which is good in any teaching situation.
Troops to Teachers is an excellent program. My organization (ABCTE) has been working with them for several years. I only wish more former military would take advantage of the opportunity.