About Paul Joseph

Paul Joseph is a retired Army colonel who, after completing twenty-six years of military service, immediately embarked on a teaching career. Upon his retirement from the service in September 1994, Mr. Joseph was hired by the Chesterfield County Public Schools as a high school Spanish teacher. He obtained his license through Virginia's alternative route to licensure. He passed the National Teacher's Exam while still on active duty prior to applying for a teaching position. While teaching, he completed his professional studies course work at night at Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Joseph was the head coach of the James River High School Jayvee baseball team and later was the assistant varsity baseball coach at Thomas Dale High School.

Mr. Joseph joined the Department of Education staff on a part-time basis as a licensure specialist in the Division of Teacher Education and Licensure in October 1997. In February 1999, he was selected for a full-time specialist position within the same division. In April of 1999, he was selected to fill a newly created senior licensure specialist position overseeing six other full-time specialists, two part-time specialists as well as four administrative support personnel. In this position, Mr. Joseph provided technical support to the 132 public school divisions as well as many private schools. In addition, he provided technical support to Institutions of Higher Education, DOE staff and the general public on all aspects of Virginia's licensure program. Mr. Joseph was responsible for all licensure action requests from Fairfax County Public Schools.

He was also involved in a variety of studies. Of note was one he conducted with the assistance of Dr. James Laws, a former DOE employee. This legislatively mandated study looked at increasing Virginia's flexibility in its alternative certification programs. Specifically, the department was asked to look at the alternative licensure programs in New Jersey and Texas and develop a new alternative route to licensure. Based on Mr. Joseph's and Dr. Law's study, Virginia developed the "career switcher" program. This program focused on attracting mid-career professionals to teaching in some of Virginia's critically short teaching areas. During the summer of 2000,the first pilot program of 100 "career switchers" was launched. The initial pilot program focused only on military members changing professions. The next year a second pilot program focused on other career professionals. This effort led to Virginia's current "career switcher" alternative route program that is offered by seven regional program providers.

In October 2003, Mr. Joseph launched JECS. In a very short period of time, JECS has earned a solid reputation across the Commonwealth and now provides services on a year around basis to 19 school divisions, the ODU Career Switcher Program and to Virginia State University. Despite this rigorous schedule, in August 2007 Mr. Joseph decided to re-enter the classroom part-time and now serves as a middle school Spanish teacher at St. Bridget's School in Richmond, VA. This experience has proved both enjoyable and rewarding yet serves as a reminder of just how challenging the teaching profession can be!

Mr. Joseph is a 1968 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point; a 1982 graduate of Long Island University's MBA program; and a 1988 graduate of the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA. He is a member of the Virginia Association of School Personnel Administrators (VASPA), the Virginia Education Association (VEA), the West Point Society of Richmond and the Military Officers Association of America.

Mr. Joseph has published two articles for the Virginia Journal of Education. The first article entitled "Tour of Duty", a reflection of his teaching experience in Chesterfield County, was published in January 1998. The second article entitled " A Time for Renewal" was published in the January 2004 edition and provides information on Virginia's renewal requirements.