Overall, men represent less than 20 percent of the teaching ranks.

"The teaching ranks are thin and poorly prepared," Dr. Schorsch said.

But 2,595 novices, representing 4 percent of the city's teaching ranks, have been thrown into classrooms and forced to learn how to teach through trial and error.

That would be the beginning of true professionalism in the teaching ranks.

Making a master's degree a prerequisite for entering the teaching ranks would not guarantee better teachers.

But promising faculty are also moving to industry, leaving gaps in the teaching ranks.

In our sample, 10 percent of teachers came from private and home schools and 12 percent from outside conventional teaching ranks (including people with doctorates and university experience).

"I hope that they find the strengths, the talent that I found among the teaching ranks, the leadership of principals, the involvement of parents," he responded.

"This suggestion came from the teaching ranks," said Blondean Y. Davis, the chief of operations for the public schools.

The average age of midcareer entrants in New Jersey's teaching ranks is 33.