With many of the nation's elementary and secondary schools needing qualified subject-specific teachers, new programs aim to support mid-career professionals wishing to jump to a job in the field of education.

Though many individuals may reassess their career goals and decide to try a new industry, some find that family obligations make an unpaid period of schooling and training nearly impossible.

The New Teacher Project (NTP), a national nonprofit organization, supports students and new educators alike, by training effective instructors in desired subject areas for school districts identified as high-need. Since the program began in 1997, NTP hired about 33,000 teachers in 28 states.

The organization trains qualified applicants who wish to pursue careers in education with its rigorous six week training session in which the job candidate will teach a practicum to students while being guided and monitored by a master teacher.

April Bernier, a mother of two and former medical research assistant, underwent the program's training and is in the final stages of being certified as a teacher. Bernier told the Providence Journal, "I never could have gotten a regular teaching certificate with my life, married with two kids. This program is opening the door to a lot of people who will be amazing teachers and couldn’t have done it otherwise."

According to NTP, a 2006 analysis of Los Angeles public school data concluded that, "having a top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom-quartile teacher four years in a row may be enough to close the black-white test score gap." Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 479,000 new teacher positions will be created by 2016.