9453187 Ervin The National Consortium for Educational Access (NCEA) activities will focus on developing the foundation for a network and specific procedures to recruit, train, and place minority transitioning military personnel (TMPs) into teaching careers at the elementary and secondary school levels in mathematics and science. The Armed Services Transition to Education Program (ASTEP) will help military personnel to become certified teachers because it will emphasize the following: -Recruiting minority male TMPs with at least associate degrees; -Providing them with guidance in preparing for a teaching career while on active duty; -Providing them with financial support for a baccalaureate degree education; -Certifying TMPs in elementary, middle, and high school science and mathematics; and -Placing newly licensed teachers in permanent positions in urban schools and other districts with sgnificant populations of minority and at-risk students. There is an acute shortage of minority male teachers at all levels of American education from kindergarten through high school, especially in mathematics and science. ASTEP will be designed to help alleviate this shortage by substantially expanding the pool of qualified minority teachers in these critical fields.
