The University System of Georgia has launched an initiative Destination Teaching: Customized Pathways to Get You There. The initiative will initially target people who want to change careers and move into teaching. It is designed to help meet the state’s increasing need for teachers.

Under this initiative, the College of Education at Georgia State University in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools was awarded a grant. The grant, the Urban Teacher Recruitment/Retention Initiative (UTRRI) will provide financial support for the candidates that have been recruited by the Atlanta Public Schools APLUS program.

The Atlanta Preparing Leaders for Urban Schools (APLUS) program is an urban teacher recruitment program that will train mid-career professionals to teach in urban classrooms. The APLUS program is committed to the idea of recruiting, selecting, providing training and ongoing support in order to provide the students of APS with a new group of teachers who will work to raise the levels of achievement of all students for now and in years to come.