A new program at Augusta State University could help meet a statewide challenge to double the number of teachers produced by the University System of Georgia.

An assorted group of about 100 students, from dentists to engineers, enrolled this summer in the university's new master of arts degree in teaching program, College of Education Associate Dean Richard Harrison said.

Then-University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas Meredith sent a letter to university presidents in 2004 challenging them to double the production of teachers by 2010 to address the state and regional teacher shortage.

The new ASU program taps into professionals who don't have a background in education but are looking for a career change, Dr. Harrison said. And, unlike the Teacher Alternate Preparation Program, graduates leave with certification and an advanced degree.

"Not only can we get you certified, we can possibly get you a job to teach while you're doing it," he said. "Plus, we're going to give you a master's degree at the end of it, so you get more pay."

Dr. Harrison said students can enroll in the program and become provisionally certified to teach once they pass the required test. Students get a heavy dose of how to teach to support the content areas they already learned as undergraduates.

"I think it probably has surprised us at how many people are interested in it," he said. "It's too early to project how many that's going to be, but it's going to be far more than we expected."

ASU's share of the challenge to double production is to graduate 275 teachers a year by 2010. When the challenge was issued in 2004, the university was producing 105 each year.

There's a need to bolster the state's supply of teachers, and the numbers bear it out, Dr. Harrison said. And that is why ASU is offering the program.

"Georgia is not training enough teachers, but neither is South Carolina, North Carolina or any other state," he said.

Not only are school officials hoping to draw more professionals into the education field, Dr. Harrison said, but they are also encouraging current undergraduate students to become certified to teach.

The goal for the system is to produce 7,000 teachers a year by 2010, said Dr. Jan Kettlewell, the associate vice chancellor for the University System of Georgia Board of Regents P-16 (preschool through college) Initiative. Teacher production increased by 30 percent from 2004 to 2005, but that alone won't solve the problem.

"The 7,000 will not be enough to meet the need unless we also reduce attrition," she said. "If we only focus on preparing new ones and we don't also focus on keeping the ones we have, we're never going to catch up. It's like a leaky bucket. You can't get it full."

Georgia must import teachers, but so must other states. That creates a problem in which the quality of teachers is lowered, Dr. Kettlewell said.

According to the Professional Standards Commission, the Georgia agency that issues teacher certifications, the attrition rate was 9.2 percent in fiscal year 2004. That means nearly one out of every 10 teachers didn't return to teach the next year.

In 2005, the commission projected the need for 11,582 new teachers in fiscal year 2006 and 11,012 for fiscal year 2007.

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.