Foreign teachers take up the slack

As American supply dwindles, school districts look abroad for qualified educators

By BRUCE NICHOLS
Dallas Morning News - Houston Bureau
Nov. 28, 2003

HOUSTON -- Last year, Vivek Agarwal was teaching math in a private school in his native India. This year, he's teaching chemistry at Smiley High School in Houston's North Forest Independent School District.

"It is very exciting," said Mr. Agarwal, 36, who is fulfilling his dream of coming to the United States. In the process, he is making $2,800 a month as opposed to $300 a month in India.

His students are happy. "I think he's a great teacher," said Tasheka Jones, a 17-year-old sophomore.

Aiming to improve on poor achievement test scores, administrators are also happy. "It's teachers like him who are going to help us reach the goal that we're striving for," said Smiley Principal Norris Rhines.

North Forest ISD honored Mr. Agarwal on Monday night for scoring 100 on his Texas teacher certification test.

Mr. Agarwal exemplifies the expanding global reach of the search for teachers to ease a U.S. teacher shortage that officials estimate at 50,000 a year and likely to grow because of low pay, poor working conditions and retirement of baby-boomer teachers.

Companies are springing up to help school officials find teachers overseas, including a new company in Houston, USA Employment, which specializes in teachers from India. It helped Mr. Agarwal land the job at Smiley.

U.S. schools have imported teachers for years, and Texas and Houston area schools are leaders in the effort, according to a National Education Association study of foreign teacher recruitment published in June.

Of 10,000 foreign teachers working in U.S. public schools last year, more than 3,000 were in Texas, estimated NEA, the nation's largest teachers' union. In the Houston area alone, there were 2,400, including 915 in the Houston Independent School District, while the Dallas Independent School District had 88, the NEA said.

Most were brought to meet the need for bilingual instruction, and with the biggest immigrant populations being from south of the border, the emphasis has been on Spain, Mexico and Latin America, officials said.

Bringing teachers from India is relatively new, said Ron Kettler, interim director of the Texas Board of Educator Certification.

But the phenomenon likely will grow because there is a need not just for Hispanic bilingual instruction, but for math and science teachers, said Jay Kumar, a former petrochemical engineer who two years ago started USA Employment to help districts recruit teachers in India.

India has a pool of experienced teachers highly qualified in math and science. And because India had been part of the British Empire, most Indian teachers speak English.

"We think this is the best solution," Mr. Kumar said.

USA Employment is not the only company in the field -- the NEA report listed several others that have operated longer -- but in just two years it has placed 120 teachers in districts from Arizona to Connecticut.

Fare paid for officials

The company pays the way of school district officials to India to interview candidates. For those unable to travel, it can provide videotapes or teleconferenced interviewing from its Delhi office, run by Mr. Kumar's brother.

The teachers pay their own way, coming to the United States on non-immigrant visas, and they remit to USA Employment a fee of as much as $500 a month for three years to cover the cost of finding them a job, Mr. Kumar said.

In its recent report, the NEA expressed concern that not all foreign teachers receive comparable pay. The group also doubted the wisdom of people paying agencies to get jobs in the United States.

Some districts -- including Dallas ISD -- have a policy of avoiding such arrangements. "We don't charge for our services, and we don't want any of our employees to wind up paying somebody to come to work for the district," DISD spokesman Donnie Claxton said.

The Houston school district, working with the Region IV Texas Education Service Center, doesn't use private agencies either, said Terry Abbott, HISD spokesman.

But the need is great and growing, partly because of Congress' recent passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, requiring qualified teachers in every classroom, said Larry Zenke, a consultant to school districts.

"We need to expand our traditional recruiting avenues to find the teachers we need," said Dr. Zenke, who recently returned from a USA Employment recruiting trip for the Jacksonville-Duval County school district in Florida.

Mr. Agarwal said his arrangement with USA Employment has been beneficial. "I appreciate the program," he said.

Borrowed money for trip

He made two trips to the United States before finding a job, borrowing the total cost of $6,000 -- $2,000 for the first trip, $4,000 for the second -- from his father. "I'm paying him back now," Mr. Agarwal said.

The calculation Indian teachers make is simple, officials said. While students are more respectful in India and teachers' position in society is more respected, there's much greater opportunity in America.

"People want to come basically because this is the best place you can be," said Isha Gangopadhya, a third-grade teacher placed in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land by USA Employment.

Teaching at Smiley has been challenging but rewarding, Mr. Agarwal said.

"The students need me more. Their morale has been really low. They're being told they're bad, they're stupid, all these things. ... I tell them they're doing good. I force them to think," he said.

Judging from a recent session in the classroom, his approach is working.

As he used the question-and-answer method to walk students through how various materials conduct electricity, he held the attention of most in the class.

"When he's trying to teach you something, he makes sure you get it before he goes on," said John Davis, a 16-year-old sophomore.

"He doesn't give up," said Jessica Contreras, 16. "If you don't give up, he won't give up. He keeps going. ... He really cares about his students. You can tell it from the way he teaches."

Problems at first

Both Mr. Agarwal and his students acknowledged there were some communication problems at first because of his Indian-accented English and their Texas accents and American slang.

"We had to work together to understand each other," Ms. Jones said.

"Initially, I was having some problems, but now I am comfortable," Mr. Agarwal agreed.

Although teachers enter the country on visas lasting up to six years, many seek to stay either as permanent residents or become U.S. citizens. Mr. Agarwal wants to bring his wife, Tulika, to the United States and eventually to become a citizen. He has no children.

Even if he doesn't stay in the country, Mr. Agarwal said the experience will have been valuable. "I've really learned a lot, and if I go back from here, I've a very good chance to become a principal or to guide other teachers," he said.