Professionals Leave Office for Classroom Opportunity

Business leaders considered experts in their field can share their knowledge with students via the Arkansas Department of Education’s nontraditional licensure program.

Launched in 1987, NTLP invites experienced worksmiths to teach the lessons they’ve learned in the marketplace.

For most of the state, NTLP eases the shortage of instructors. However, Northwest Arkansas doesn’t suffer the same deficiency, because many people who move into the area for corporate work bring spouses with teaching degrees, said Norene Drinkwater, an NTLP adviser in Little Rock.

This year, 385 people applied for the NTLP program statewide, but only 260 people enrolled. Including first- and second-year teachers, the program currently includes 435 people.

Benton County has 26 in the program, and Washington County has 23. NTLP candidates earn the same salary as other novice teachers.

Lawyers, retired doctors, biologists, chemists and physicists have all completed the nontraditional program for teaching.

“They came to teaching because they’ve gained all this knowledge and they want to pass it on,” Drinkwater said. “They normally do an excellent job. Our program enables people to teach as well as [professional teachers].”

To complete Arkansas’ two-year, NTLP applicants must:

• Possess at least a bachelor-level degree.

• Pass Praxis I — which covers basic skills such as reading and writing — and the content knowledge portion of Praxis II.

• Interview with a panel.

• Pay an annual fee of $500.

• Find a teaching position by the beginning of the second school year of the program. However, candidates are encouraged to find work for both years of the program.

• Attend orientation and two weeks of summer training and monthly workshops in Little Rock. The workshops address content standards, assessments, accountability and professional knowledge needed in classrooms.

• Pass the pedagogical knowledge portion of Praxis II after the first year of teaching experience.

Once new teachers finish the program, they are issued the same teaching licenses as novices who went through standard training.

Right now, English, business, Spanish and biology are the most popular nontraditional certificates, but teachers seek certification in more than 25 subjects.

Randall Reynolds earned a nontraditional license, and he teaches math to 115 eighth graders at Gravette Junior High School. He said he’d always wanted to teach, but after spending four years in the Air Force and earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas, Reynolds didn’t want to face another two years of school before getting into a classroom.

When he heard about the nontraditional license program, he didn’t hesitate to sign up. “On-the-job training” appealed to Reynolds.

“I’m pleased with the program,” he said. “I can’t sing their praises enough for giving people like me who have the desire to teach a chance to get in the classroom.”