Externships Offer Insight into Education
By Regina Greenwald

Businesspeople have experience in education, since they've spent at least 12 years in school before considering college. There is no other area of life where so many people have a common experience from which to draw. Educators, on the other hand, have generally spent their time in education, and their business experience is limited to working summers at various jobs in between training and teaching. The majority of the educators have minimal experience in other aspects of the workplace.

Through the efforts of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, the Delaware Department of Education, the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical & Community College, 24 educators found a way to connect to the workplace. For three days in June, 20 companies hosted educators as "externs," visitors to their companies to learn how what the businesses do applies to what the educators do in the classroom. This is the second year of this particular externship program and it has grown from eight participants last year.

Teacher extern Pam Murray (right) examines the floral department of a lcoal ShopRite with employee Carm Muldoon.

The goal of an externship is to bridge the knowledge between both fields so that businesses understand and can have better access to the classrooms of the future. Also, an externship lets educators better understand what is needed from the work force of the future.

"We always benefit from this opportunity. It gives us a chance to meet with the folks who teach our children. Our employees and management get to see another side of the education system," says Mike Rudis, HR training manager at Dover Downs, who hosted Angie Lightcap-Hewes from Smyrna School District and Debra Maddox from Colonial School District.

Business hosts explained the inner workings of their company by providing staff to explain processes, inviting teacher externs to attend meetings, participate in problem solving or visit project sites. At George & Lynch, Brenda Kidder of Brandywine School District observed how all employees work together for success. Teachers typically observed a group process in the workplace, rather than the one-on-one situation typically encountered in a classroom. To illustrate the point the teacher was given a real-life homework assignment of coordinating trade workers and contractors for an addition on her house.

Another extern, Susan Gooden of Brandywine School District, who spent her three days at Delmarva Broadcasting Company, gave a listener's view of the radio stations' program and served as a consultant by surveying what the station did an dhow they communicated internally.

Educators who have participated in the program comments on how effective the program is. "Being in a real businesses situation is invaluable because my perceptions about what I could use in my classroom prior to the externship were not accurate," says Mary Pinkston of Brandywine High School, who visited MBNA America. "I will take many things from this experience and share them with my students."

Jacqueline Duncan of Lewes Middle School adds, "Teachers need to get out and see how our efforts lead to the end product - employees." I think it will make my teaching better in the future after seeing how students will fit into the business world."

In turn, business partners learned how they can participate in the education of Delaware's youth. Many are willing to provide opportunities for educators to continue the dialogue between the business and the classrooms.

Betty Behringer, of H.B. duPont Middle School, reviews the function of lab equipment with Larry Smith, senior lab technologist with Kraft Foods.

"Conectiv realizes it will need highly skilled professionals and we see this as one way to sowing the seeds for the future success," says Jim Smith, Conectiv public affairs coordinator. "We know that a well-training and highly skilled work force translates into continued reliable and safe service to our customers."

To learn more about the teacher externship program, contact Leslie Green Shapiro of The Partnership, Inc., at (302) 576-6574.

This story originally appeared in the September/October 2003 issue of Delaware Business.