This article describes a lateral entry certification program (LEP) which prepared 13 new math and science teachers for rural North Carolina schools. It also presents findings which indicate that LEP participants are as competent in school classrooms and as successful on National Teacher Examinations as traditionally prepared students. (IAH)

This paper addresses the problem of the decline in the available pool of black students in colleges and universities who are choosing teaching as a career. At a time when black students are most in need of good role models and the greatest academic support, black teachers are becoming scarce in the public schools. Three possible reasons for this…