Woodrow Wilson High School students in Camden, N.J., see a rich orange flame in a chemistry lab that digs into atomic structure of elements.  Erika Leak, the class’s chemistry teacher, said the day’s lesson went deeper into the idea of atomic structure.

Leak is new to chemistry herself and has more empathy for what students might struggle to understand than someone who has made a career out of science. She spent the first part of her career teaching English, making the transition through an alternative certification program designed to alleviate the shortage of science teachers. The New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning trains physics and chemistry teachers based on the belief that it is harder to train people to be good teachers than it is to train good teachers to lead science classrooms.

The program recruits mid-career teachers who have already proven themselves in the classroom, giving them a crash course in the new subject area.

The Camden City Schools’ partnership with the NJCTL has increased the number of science teachers in the district, meaning more students have access to the courses. Another benefit: the program has brought more female science teachers and science teachers of color to the classroom. Leak, a black woman, says she finds being able to stand at the front of a chemistry classroom in a school that is entirely black and Latino means something.

Read the full article about diversity in classrooms by Tara Garcia Mathewson at The Hechinger Report.