EUGENE–Just past ten o’clock on a rainy Friday morning, a couple of dozen kids drift into a science classroom at Eugene’s Churchill High School to check out their new teacher, Scott Kleiner.

"Do we have homework?" someone asks.

"What’s ‘Science in the News?’" another asks about an assignment printed in large letters on the blackboard.

"Yes, you have homework," Kleiner answers, then deftly uses the students’ natural curiosity to get them involved in the day’s learning exercises. He explains "Science in the News" by reading some news articles aloud. Within minutes he has the students filling out a survey that will help him evaluate their writing skills, give him an idea of what they know about science and help identify those with special needs.

This time last year Kleiner, then a newly enrolled graduate student in the University of Oregon’s Middle and Secondary Teacher master’s degree program, was learning the ropes at this same school. School officials were so impressed with the classroom skills he developed as a student teacher that they offered him a teaching job when he graduated in August.

Just down the hall, five other UO education alumni also are working with Churchill students.

The UO licensure program that produced these classroom teachers is winning high marks from school administrators–and from its graduates.

More than 80 percent of the students who graduated with Kleiner last summer were in such demand that they had won teaching contracts within a month of graduation–most of them in Oregon school districts, including Portland, Bethel, Creswell, Junction City and Fern Ridge.

Credit some of that success to the national teacher shortage. But officials say it was excellence that gave UO students the greatest edge in the job market.

"Clearly, our national image is one of high quality and excellence," said Marty Kaufman, education dean, noting that the U.S. News & World Report’s 1999 survey of graduate schools ranked the UO program among the top 16 in the nation.

Local school principals agree.

"We hired six of the UO students who interned here last winter," says Jim Slemp, Churchill High School principal. "We hired them because they were the best candidates we saw. I’ve never done a more intensive search for good teachers and I found them at the UO. Their program attracts the best students around and makes them even better," Slemp insists.

One innovation that makes this program shine is its down-to-earth approach.

"We put a lot of emphasis on performance in the classroom," says Marilyn Olson, director of the UO Middle and Secondary Teaching Program.

During their very first term in the program, UO student teachers begin working with middle and high school students in classrooms, learning how educational theory is actually applied on a day-to-day basis.

"Other colleges typically send students into just one classroom for one term," Slemp says. "UO students get their hands dirty–they really learn what happens in schools."

In Springfield, Thurston High School principal Larry Bentz agrees.

"The UO students are getting an in-depth immersion in grades 6-12. Because each student does it all in a single district, each is exposed to schools as they really are," says Bentz.

Dan Sterling and Sarah Eriksen, Duck alumni who now teach at Churchill, are enthusiastic about the UO College of Education’s partnership with Churchill.

"We were able to come into the school the first term, even before tasks had been assigned," says Sterling, who teaches in Churchill’s International High School. "We shadowed students, talked with any teacher we wanted to and had full access to teachers’ meetings."

Considered another plus is that the UO program only admits college graduates who already have earned bachelor’s degrees in the subjects they hope to teach–English, foreign languages, math, science or social studies.

"My undergraduate degree was in math, so when my students tried to stump me with problems outside the text book, I knew how to find the answers," says Eriksen. "I think that helped me win their respect."

All recent UO alumni now on the Churchill faculty can draw on a rich resource as they begin to develop their own teaching styles–a shared camaraderie forged last year with the other five Churchill faculty "Ducks."

"It was really valuable," says Kleiner. "They tried to overwhelm us a bit to show us what it’s like to teach. We got through it together and we’re still here."

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