EDITORIAL : CHAN'S GREAT PLAN; EXPANDING VAUGHN TO PREPARE TEENS FOR TEACHING PROFESSION IS EXCELLENT IDEA.

THE great charter school experiment that's turning into a successful learning lab is ready to expand.

Principal Yvonne Chan of Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima wants to build an academy in the northeast San Fernando Valley to train adolescents and teen-agers who want to become teachers.

It is an inspired proposal full of tremendous pitfalls, possible failure or breathtaking success. It is exactly the kind of bold and innovative steps that public schools should be taking.

Chan is seeking a $2 million no-interest federal loan to double the size of the award-winning charter school, which now ends with fifth grade, by adding about 1,000 students in sixth through 12th grades.

Under the plan, Vaughn and California State University, Northridge, would be partners in identifying and training potential teachers from a young age. Chan said the program would not only help reduce the district's dropout rate among teen-age girls, but also combat the growing teacher shortage.

A crucial issue facing education, one that has not been addressed by any candidate for state office, is how to attract and train more qualified teachers.

Even before Gov. Pete Wilson and state lawmakers agreed to education reforms and to spend more money to reduce class sizes, schools were having trouble filling jobs.

That problem has now multiplied. Smaller class sizes have created more classes to teach, while raising teacher standards will eliminate some of the candidates.

So far, lawmakers have created the demand and ignored the supply side.

Chan recognized the problem and adjusted her strategy. The academy was proposed last fall for students interested in international business and foreign languages, but a change in focus was prompted by the critical shortage of qualified public school teachers and a need to reduce dropout rates among inner-city high school girls, she said.

The nation's public schools also face a shortage of credentialed teachers. According to the American Federation of Teachers, U.S. public schools will need to hire about 2 million teachers during the next decade.

The shortage is even more crucial for large urban school districts, such as the LAUSD, since an estimated 14 percent of new teachers nationwide are hired on emergency credentials.

If Vaughn's plan is approved, the pressure to succeed will be great because so many are counting on it. The school needs to take care that that pressure does not fall heavily on the shoulders of students already at risk.

The teaching program plan, which goes to Board of Education for approval, is a idea whose time has come.