“…Miami Teaching Fellows [is] designed to increase the academic achievement of students by bringing professionals into the classroom….allow[ing] professionals in other fields to pursue teaching credentials though a…no-cost certification program and attend a summer training institute…

The fellows program has brought many a male teacher into the fold. One is John DeFranks, formerly the finance manager for Noven Pharmaceuticals. With a business career under his belt and accounting and MBA degrees to his credit, the 48-year-old will fulfill a lifelong dream …at Mays Middle School in South Dade…teaching math to sixth graders.

His two high school children were surprised by his mid-life career change, but his wife was ‘very supportive. She knew this was always something I wanted to do,’ after teaching Sunday school at his church for 17 years and volunteering with Junior Achievement for another 15.

His friends, he adds, are both encouraging and envious. 'People say, `It's great that you're doing what you want.' I've had my management career. Now I want to make a difference.''

“Miami Teaching Fellows fashions itself as something of a bridge, helping professionals [to earn] certification and training.”

“William Cortezia, walked away from a lucrative job in international banking to find fulfillment in education... As an international banker, Cortezia would move millions of dollars around the world -- but most transactions were reversible if he made a mistake. ‘If you make a mistake with a child, 'there's no do-over.’
“[Julia] Moak, a former financial director for major insurance and healthcare firms…survived the rigorous screening and became... part of an eclectic group that include[s] a doctor, an international banker, a police officer, a recent college graduate and a volunteer in Colombian orphanages [who] share at least one thing: little or no formal classroom experience but ‘a call to do something purposeful.’”

Miami Teaching Fellows is one of the nation’s best organizations for college grads to launch their careers, according to The Princeton Review.  The New York-based education services company features it in the new 2007 edition of its annual guidebook, "Best Entry-Level Jobs", stating:

“Fellows are scattered throughout the Miami-Dade school system, so program participants don’t see [one another] on a daily basis. They do participate in…meetings and social gatherings…One Fellow writes, ‘We’re … like-minded adults switching professions or right out of college who understand each other’…… ‘Every second of every workday is filled with opportunities to [have an] impact [on] students’ lives, [both] in and out of the classroom.’”

“The innovative program that takes people out of the workplace and into the classroom is looking for more trailblazing professionals. Miami Teaching Fellows, a highly selective alternate route to teaching, is specifically designed to increase the academic achievement of students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.”