To the Editor:

The Sept. 26 Op-Ed "New approaches needed to solve teacher shortage" speaks the truth: Many parts of our country, Minnesota included, are in the midst of a teacher shortage crisis that will only get worse if swift action is not taken.

One in five teachers in the United States will retire in the next five years but our nation's colleges of education - traditionally the pipeline providing our schools with new teachers - are no longer producing educators at the rate they once did. In 1970, 25 percent of bachelor's and master's degrees were in education. In 2006, that number had plummeted to 14 percent.

In order to address this problem, we need more alternate routes to the classroom for professionals seeking a career change and more people making the journey down those paths.

The piece of Sept. 26 goes on to recommend initiating "pilot programs for outsiders to enter classrooms." The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence has recruited more than 7,000 "outsiders" into our preparation program. I have seen firsthand how successful this approach has can be in other states and highly recommend that Minnesota's leaders follow the Sentinel's recommendation. I would, however, urge the state not to simply seek professionals to drop-in and teach "an hour or two per day" as the Sentinel suggests, but to recruit professionals interested in a making a full-time switch to teaching.

ABCTE worked with Utah to develop a pilot certification program allowing well-qualified professionals to change careers and become math teachers. After seeing the quality of the math teachers we provided, the state now accepts ABCTE certification in all of our subject areas.

An ABCTE pilot program in Minnesota, focused on math and science teachers, would attract the career changers necessary to ensure that every student would have a great teacher to inspire the state's next generation of math and science experts.

The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization funded by the U.S. Department of Education committed to recruiting, certifying and supporting excellent teachers essential for achieving student success.

David Saba

president, ABCTE