What We Know: Alternative Certification

Given current teacher shortages across the nation, alternative preparation and certification programs are essential. According to the National Center for Education Information (NCEI), 47 states and the District of Columbia currently report at least one type of alternate route to teacher certification. In 2005, NCEI reports a total of 122 alternative route programs at 619 sites across the country.

CTQ has documented the need for, and existence of, high quality alternative preparation programs that bring intelligent, dedicated individuals into the teaching profession from other career paths (such as the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), the Boston Teacher Residency Program and the Boettcher Teachers Program).

But all alternative preparation programs are not created equal. Alternative certification programs vary greatly on many dimensions including scope, size, duration, and intensity. Many do not currently provide the extensive mentoring by expert teachers and corresponding coursework in teaching and assessment strategies, as well as in child and adolescent psychology, that make other alternative certification programs successful in preparing teachers. Despite these discrepancies, there is little research-based knowledge about the links between varying characteristics of the programs, the performance of program participants in classrooms, and, ultimately, learning outcomes for students whom the participants teach.[1]

Effective alternative preparation programs should last at least 9 to 15 months and must comprehensively prepare novice teachers for all the demands of the profession. These programs should also include:

• Strong academic and pedagogical coursework that provides teachers with the subject matter and teaching knowledge needed to help students reach the state's curriculum and teaching standards;
• Intensive field experience in the form of an internship or student teaching under the direct daily supervision of an expert teacher; and
• The capacity to collect data on the effectiveness of the preparation they are providing, including the attrition rates for, and the impact on student learning of the novice teachers they produce (this data-collection need also applies to traditional schools of education which often struggle to track whether the teachers they produce actually help students learn once they begin teaching).

While there are programs that provide these elements, they are not the norm. Education Week reviewed alternative certification programs and revealed that only thirteen states required any classroom training, while only nineteen states required a mentoring component. Even so, only nine of these states required mentors to match the subject area that the alternative recruit is teaching, and only five provided release time for the mentors. The frequency of the required mentoring sessions spans from one meeting a month in New York to twenty-three meetings a year in Kentucky.[2]

Ultimately policymakers and education stakeholders should recognize that effective alternative certification programs are needed to help address teaching shortages and potentially improve teaching quality in this country. They should also realize that alternative certification in its current form does not represent a cure-all for what ails teaching quality in this country. Policymakers would be ill-advised to believe that alternative certification programs are more effective than traditional preparation programs – or vice versa. Teacher supply, distribution and quality issues are complex challenges requiring complex solutions and significant investments. Investing in more comprehensive alternative certification solutions may cost more on the front end – but would provide considerable benefit in the long run for teachers and the students they serve.

[1] Wilson. S., and Floden, B. (2002). Addendum to Teacher Preparation Research: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Recommendations (2001). Denver: Education Commission of the States.
[2] Education Week. (2003). Quality counts 2003: If I can’t learn from you. Ensuring a highly qualified teacher for every classroom. Bethesda, MD: Author.