(GLARRC Information Management and Services gathered these resources, in response to an information request)
June 2001
Currently,
41 states plus the District of Columbia report having some type of alternative
teacher certification program.
Estimates say 125,000 people have been licensed through alternative
certification programs.
Effective
alternative certification programs include:
A 1999 survey of Institutions of Higher Education that have programs for the preparation of teachers conducted by the Center for Education Information, found that nearly three out of 10 (28 percent) prospective new teachers who completed teacher preparation in 1998 in college-based programs began their preparation to teach after they had already received at least a bachelor’s degree.
More than one-third (36 percent) of persons admitted into Teacher Preparation Programs at the Post-baccalaureate level and 14 percent of those admitted as Undergraduates within the past year had prior teaching-related experience, such as substitute teacher, teacher’s aide, or school paraprofessional.
Three states have exemplary programs: California, New Jersey, and Texas. Alternative programs help increase the minority representation in the teaching staff. For example, New Jersey’s alternative certification program has been the state’s biggest source of qualified minority teachers.
California, New Jersey and Texas have been developing and aggressively utilizing alternative routes for licensing teachers since the mid-1980s. Approximately eight percent of new hires in California enter teaching through the state’s alternative routes. In Texas, 16 percent of its new hires come through the state’s 27 Alternative Routes, and in New Jersey, 22 percent of new teachers enter the profession through the state’s alternative route.
All of the states that have designed and implemented exemplary alternative route programs report that teachers certified through their alternative routes perform as well, and, in some cases, better, on certification examinations as their counterparts who completed traditional teacher education programs. Administrators in schools where these teachers teach report high levels of satisfaction with their performance. Early evidence indicates that these alternative routes are effective in getting more people of color into teaching and in recruiting, training and placing teachers in classrooms where the demand for teachers in greatest.
(From
Feistritser, C. Emily. Alternative
Routes to Teaching. Testimony
before the
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related
Agencies, May 23, 2001. http://www.ncei.com/Testimony010521.htm.
Feistritser,
C. Emily. Teacher Quality and
Alternative Certification Programs.
Testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, May
13, 1999. http://www.ncei.com/Testimony051399.htm).
Bilingual education has become an area of growing
teacher shortages, especially in California and Texas. Although there are
enough certified teachers to meet the needs of California school districts, the
certification areas of available teachers do not match the areas in demand
(McKibbon and Ray, 1994). The LAUSD district-based alternative program has
helped to alleviate this problem. Stoddart (1990) found that alternative
certification has been an improvement over the use of emergency and misassigned
teachers who were negatively impacting students most in need of quality
instruction. Stoddart reported that as many as 25 percent of new teachers hired
for elementary bilingual classrooms were certified through the LAUSD
alternative program.
Special education is another area that has
benefited in recent years from ACPs. Rosenberg and Rock (1994) studied a unique
program at Johns Hopkins University that was developed in collaboration with
two urban local education agencies and the Maryland State Department of
Education. The program was a field-based, two-year experimental program leading
to certification and a Master's degree in special education. They found that
(1) ACP teachers were performing ator exceedingsatisfactory levels in their
first year of teaching, (2) ACP teachers demonstrated specific instructional
and management competencies at better than satisfactory levels, and (3) ACP
teachers performed on a level comparable to traditionally trained teachers.
However, few
studies verify the efficacy of ACPs in the area of special education (Buck, Polloway,
and Robb, 1995). Banks and Necco (1987) found a higher attrition rate for
special education teachers trained in ACPs and inferred a relationship between
certification type and job longevity. In a New Mexico study on attrition, Smith
(1994) contended that alternatively trained special education teachers had an
attrition rate three times higher than their traditionally trained peers.
Buck, Polloway, and Robb (1995) conducted a
national survey to ascertain how different states were using ACPs to train
teachers of students with disabilities. They found that the majority of
states (62 percent) partially rely on ACPs for teachers in early childhood,
middle, secondary, and special education, with 24 states reporting some type of
ACP for special education. The authors projected that by 2000 approximately 85
percent of U. S. states would provide alternative routes to teacher
certification.
(Direct
text from Newman, Carol and Thomas, Kay.
Alternative Teacher Certification. 1999. For full article,
see http://www.aaesa.org/Pubs/99perspect/altern_teacher_certif.html. Publication specifically summarizes efforts
in Texas).
Almost
one third of the 87 teacher training institutions in Texas offer alternative
certification, either as an option within the teacher preparation programs or
as the entire program. Of the 28 Texas
alternative certification programs, 13 are located in Education Service
Agencies.
(Information
obtained from Alief
Independent School District website, Houston, TX. http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/
)
While Alternative Certification may be a fast route to full
teacher certification in Texas, it may not the quickest route to initial
employment. All Alternative
Certification Programs (ACP) require completion of a pre-internship training
period before the applicant is eligible for employment as a teacher intern. Application deadlines for pre-internship
training period usually occur several months before the training actually
begins.
Following the pre-internship training period, there is usually an internship period. The internship period is the time when an applicant is eligible for employment in a school district. Alief School District hires individuals who have completed the pre-internship training period through an Alternative Certification Program (ACP).
When hired,
teachers who have completed pre-internship training serve a minimum one-year
internship period. After successful
completion of the internship period, passage of all state required examinations
and completing other program requirements, the teachers are recommended for a
standard Texas teacher’s certificate.
Alief does not
have its own Alternative Certification Program; however, there are two agencies
in the area that do: Region IV Education Service Center and Prairie View
A&M University.
Many
of our interns participate in the Region IV Alternative Certification Program
(ACP). Basic information concerning the
Region IV program appears below.
The minimum requirements for all areas of certification are
provided on the website: http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/
Other
Information: Texas
February
2001: The State Board of Education rejected new rules for alternative teacher
certification proposed by the State Board of Educator Certification. The rule would have consolidated teaching
permits – temporary, emergency, and alternative. Individuals would not have had to take any college courses or
have any working experience in the subject they would have been certified to
teach. It allowed alternatively
certified teachers to teach for one year before passing the subject area state
certification exam. It authorized
schools to assign teachers, without their consent, to teach courses outside
their certification for up to three years.
It eliminated the rule requiring schools to notify parents when children
have an uncertified teacher for more than 30 consecutive days. (For full article, see http://www.educationnews.org/lone_star_foundation_opinion_te.htm)
Los
Angeles Paraeducator Career Ladder Programs
In
1990, the California legislature established the California School
Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program.
This mainly consists of academic scholarships to defray costs of tuition,
books, and fees for paraprofessionals who complete college/university course
work to meet teacher certification standards.
In
1994, the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) established the paraeducator
Career Ladder as a joint project of the district and the Service Employees
International Union.
LAUSD is the only program that has made an effort to become a model that is institutionalized and fully supported by the district. The LAUSD Career Ladder is open to all district paraeducators, not just the small group funded by the state. The Board of Education provided funds for development and initial implementation on a year-to-year basis from July 1995 and then established the program as part of the general fund budget in July 1996. The Career Ladder is now a unit within the Personnel Division and is an integral part of the districts recruitment strategy. It receives approximately $1 million annually; from district funds that support over 4000 participants. It also receives approximately $140,000 from the state in the form of a grant for a California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program that supports forty-five participants.
The
Career Ladder also acts as a clearinghouse helping to disseminate information
about other efforts to develop teachers. Currently, it is working with programs
such as the USC Latino Teacher Project, CSULA Apprentice Teacher Program, CSULA
Special Education Intern Program, CSUN Project COMETS (also a special education
credential program), PACE at various community colleges, and Project Teach at
East Los Angeles Colleges.
Career
Ladder participants are placed on one of five levels based on education
completed towards a teaching credential and demonstrated proficiency in a
series of teaching-related performance areas. Progress towards a teaching
credential is monitored through ongoing analysis of transcripts. Proficiency in
performance areas is assessed through observation by the supervising teacher.
As
participants increase their level of proficiency and progress towards a work
for the district for a minimum of two years if offered a position. In return,
participants are provided with educational advisement, support groups,
mentoring, test preparation seminars, hiring assistance, and partial tuition
reimbursement.
Results
of the Career Ladder have been impressive. Since July 1995, over 800 program
participants have been hired as teachers.
These
new teachers are 85% people of color and 65 bilingual. 12% have gone into
special education. Reports from the field indicate that they are generally
having success and come to the profession with skills that few other new
teachers possess. In addition, 97% of Career Ladder participants hired as
teachers since July 1995 are still teaching for the district. By bringing
together the needs of schools and the aspirations of a vital group of
employees, the education of students has been improved.
During
the first half of the 1998-1999 school year, resources have been focused upon
improving program components to maximize the number of participants that become
district teachers.
(For more information see The Los Angeles Unified School District Paraeducator Career Ladder Programs, http://www.nrcpara.org/articles/Article2.htm )
(For
full information on requirements for certification, see http://certificated.lausd.k12.ca.us/cert/new%20pages/teaching_opportunitiesi.htm
)
“In 1985, New
Jersey became the first state to create an alternative route to teacher
certification for people with a bachelor’s degree but no education courses.
Since then, 8,347 career-changers have received teaching certificates this way,
all but eliminating teacher vacancies and out-of-field teaching in the state.
In the last seven years, about a fourth of all new hires by New Jersey schools have come through the alternative route. In addition, the success of the program prompted changes in regular teacher certification. Under the alternate route, school districts must assign support teams to work with novice teachers for most of their first year on the job; at the end of the year, the teams recommend whether they get regular teaching certificates. The teams "are comprised minimally of a building-level principal, a mentor teacher and one other person," explains Ellen Schechter, assistant commissioner of education. During the novice’s first four weeks, the mentor teacher works full-time with the teacher-in-training, as in student teaching.”
(Direct text excerpt from Kelleher, Maureen. Alternative certification ends shortage. Catalyst, 1999. For full article, see http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/11-99/119alt.htm).
(New
Jersey)… “After collecting data from 1984 to 1990, we found that 16 percent of
the education-school-prepared teachers were leaving the classroom after one
year, compared with 4 percent of the "alternate route"
teachers. This occurred because an education-school-prepared teacher was in a
sink-or-swim situation, while the "alternate route" teacher
had a support system in place. The support system is now standard procedure for
all new teachers in the state.”
(Direct text excerpt
from Cooperman, Saul. The Sky is Not
Falling. Education Week, January 26,
2000. For full article, see http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.php?slug=20cooperman.h19&keywords=alternate%20route).
New Jersey
Provisional Teacher Program
Information and Application Packet
Website contains
comparison tables for regular and alternate route teacher candidates; includes
a table outlining provisional teacher support, evaluation, and training.
http://www.state.nj.us/njded/educators/license/1113.htm#ii
National
Center for Alternative Teacher Certification
NCATC is a not-for-profit foundation (501C3) that provides consultation to state departments of education, school districts, regional educational entities, state and federal legislators, and any partnership or group desiring to learn more about eliminating teacher shortages by envisioning entirely new paradigms of teacher education via alternative routes to teacher and administrative certification.
National Association for Alternative Certification
http://www.alt-teachercert.org/
NAAC seeks to expand the options available to individuals
to achieve certification for teaching or administration at the elementary or
secondary level. The goal of NAAC is to help improve these preparation programs
by facilitating the entry into the education profession of persons who did not
choose to prepare for teaching as their initial occupations, as well as, those
individuals who have entered teacher preparation programs as part of their
initial career training.
National Center for Education Information
Author of Alternative Teacher Education; A State-by-State Analysis. Director is C. Emily Feistritser.
North Central Educational Laboratory publication: Teacher Shortages in the Midwest
http://www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/html/short/index.html
Recruiting New Teachers, Inc.
Guidance and resources for prospective teachers, as well as insight into current trends and issues in the field. Provides unique networking opportunities for educators, summaries of RNT's cutting-edge policy research and surveys, and highlights of publications, services, and advocacy efforts.
Service Members Opportunity Colleges (SOC).
Military personnel who are in a baccalaureate program or are interested in accessing alternative teacher certification can get information on college coursework available near military installations.
Teach
for America
http://www.tfanetwork.org/join_our_corps/home.asp
This national teacher corps program places recent college graduates and others with baccalaureate degrees in 2-year positions in urban and rural public schools. Special effort is made to recruit people of color and prospective teachers in bilingual education, science, or mathematics. Teach for America founded the New Teacher Project, which works with states and districts to develop programs.
Troops to Teachers.
http://voled.doded.mil/dantes/ttt/
This program provides assistance for military personnel who are interested in being teachers.
GLARRC Information Management and Services gathered these resources, in response to an information request
June 2001