In 1986, responding to the nation's teacher shortage, especially in the fields of mathematics and science, Chevron USA funded the ENCORE Program to facilitate the entrance of nontraditional recruits into the profession with alternative credentialing. Chevron also funded this study of mid-life career change to teaching in order to enable policymakers and educators to know: (l) if mid-life career changers are really viable candidates to fill vacant teaching positions; and (2) if specialized programs are having an impact on teacher quality and quantity. The study was conducted over a period of one year with 18 ENCORE recruits as subjects. The conclusions were that retraining programs are not going to solve the problems of teacher shortages because they are costly and do not train nearly enough teachers to fill the empty teaching slots. Also, the career transition seems to be too hard and the status and pay of teaching too low to make teaching an attractive second career alternative. Recommendations are made for further study as to why people enter, stay in, and leave teaching. (LL)