By Leila Fadel

Many public school systems across the nation are struggling with a shortage of teachers and an abundance of students in need of an education. In an effort to combat this problem, Northeastern and City on a Hill, a Boston charter school, are collaborating on a project which they hope will attract more qualified and dedicated teachers to the classroom.

NU has partnered with City on a Hill to further the Community Teacher Institute, a program initiated at the charter school in 2000. The school recruited 12 college students from across the east coast to participate in the program this year. As a requirement of the program, students must pursue their masters degree in education at Northeastern University.

“This program is to prepare students for urban teaching, to make them effective urban teachers and improve the retention in these schools,” said Susan Weston, associate director of foundation relations.

A $15,000 stipend is given to the aspiring educators who take part in the program, as well as free tuition for 12 credits of the masters course work, half of the masters program at Northeastern. Also beginning next year, the Department of Education will give “outstanding” candidates a signing bonus of $20,000 to encourage participation in the program.

The 12 teachers in training will co-teach with a staff member or “teacher of record.” Instead of standing in the back of a classroom to observe experienced teachers at work, they become a part of the teaching environment. Fellows, as the participants are known, are at the school for 11 months, beginning with an intensive training program in the summer followed by a total immersion into the education system for the entire academic year.

The fellows work as full-time teachers. They create lesson plans, interact with administrators and become a recognized teacher to students.

“Our belief is the things that you need to learn are just not going to come from a masters program,” said Patricia Melton-Johnson, vice president of City on the Hill. “You need to learn the culture of the urban teaching environment. We give fellows maximum opportunity to learn that program culture.”

But this program is not for everyone. The student-teachers are expected to sign a contract that guarantees that they are committed to teach in an urban environment upon completion of the masters program.

“The whole philosophy is if you want to be an urban teacher, this program will teach you the culture of the urban environment,” Johnson said. “If you want to be a suburban teacher this program is not for you.”

The program also aims at decreasing the student-teacher ratio in each classroom to create a more comfortable learning environment in the overcrowded public school system. City on a Hill has a 15 to 1 student-teacher ratio currently and through the program they hope to reduce that to as low as 10 to 1.

“Our hope is to have a teaching fellow in every classroom at every grade level,” Johnson said. “We hope to put two adults in every class room.”

This program wants to mold future teachers into effective urban educators and to retain qualified teachers in Boston public schools. NU hopes to receive the funding to follow graduate students of this program for three years to ensure that the fellows have moved on to become an effective tool in Boston public schools, according to Weston.

“There is so much turnover at public schools,” Weston said. “If an apprentice teacher is well-prepared for teaching at an urban school there will be less turnover and more retention.”