Christopher A. Bogden is a PhD candidate at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Like most students at the school--where the average student age is 31-Bogden came from the work world, after directing a school for functionally illiterate drop-outs in Baltimore, Md.

Bogden says he came to the Ed School in 1981 as a respite from the pressures of his job, and to explore the more theoretical aspects of education. "I wanted to acquaint myself with some more cerebral ideas, to get an exposure to the broad spectrum of issues that the Ed School focused on, like labor relations, computers in education, historical perspectives on education and politics and education."

But in three years since Bogden left the real world of school teaching, the Ed School has moved in exactly the opposite direction from Bogden--closer to schools, in order to relate its scholarly expertise more directly to the pragmatic issues of teaching.

Criticized by some over the last decade for being divorced from the realities of running schools, the Ed School is now embarking on several new projects. These include the development of a center to train scientists in industry as school-teachers, a program where principals learn how to manage their institutions better and a host of other efforts aimed at improving school leadership.

"I see some very healthy signs that concern for schools and school improvement is becoming part of the fabric around here," says Senior Lecturer Roland S. Barth. Barth directed a 1979 study of the Ed School which criticized the school for cutting its teacher certification program in 1973 as well as its programs for certifying principals and superintendents.

But the school's long-standing image as primarily a scholarly research institution--concerned with everything from the psychological and political perspectives on education--has begun to change with the introduction of the nuts-and-bolts programs.

"There's no question about the fact that we want to pay more attention to teaching people how to teach," says Ed School Dean Patricia A. Graham.

Retraining Scientists as Teachers

In its first year, the Ed School's fledgling Mid-Career Math-Science Program has attracted five students and much national attention. One student is a retired Army colonel with an advanced nuclear engineering degree who made $50,000 a year in business. Another is a woman who came from the booming high-tech industry of optical photography. Two others were engineers in industrial research.

After one year of course work and internships in local schools, the students will earn masters' degrees certifying them s high school math and science teachers. Next year they will be in teaching positions paying them no more than $18,000.

"The idea behind the program is to take people who are already good at math or science and help them become teachers," says the program's director, Katherine M. Merseth.

A 1983 Department of Education report charged that the United States suffers a "severe shortage of qualified mathematics, science and technology teachers."

But "Harvard is not going to solve the shortage of qualified teachers. The program is kept small for a purpose. People in the middle of a career change need quality instruction and individual counselling," Merseth adds.

The program will triple in size next year, and more than 25 other universities have expressed interest in starting up similar programs. According to Merseth, George Washington University, Rutgers, and the University of California at Berkeley have all limited planning for mid-career masters programs.

"If other institutions start doing this--turning out very small, high-quality classes of certified teachers--it could make a big difference," Merseth says. "The goal of the program is to establish a model for other institutions to copy."