INTRODUCTION

With this 2004 edition of ALTERNATIVE TEACHER CERTIFICATION: A State-by-State Analysis, the National Center for Education Information (NCEI) takes a bold step in clarifying and defining alternative routes to teacher certification.

NCEI has been tracking this issue since 1983, when New Jersey first began discussions about developing an avenue whereby liberal arts graduates would be aggressively recruited for teaching.

What we have documented in this annual publication since 1990 are the alternative routes to the traditional approved college teacher education program route for certifying teachers. Since the states have sole authority for certifying teachers, we rely on the data and information submitted by certification offices in each state. The numbers have grown substantially in the last two decades. States have identified as alternative routes everything from newly created certification routes designed specifically for nontraditional candidates to emergency certificates.

In 1991, NCEI developed a classification system, A through I, and has since added J and K, to further distinguish among routes that states have identified as alternatives to traditional certification. In previous editions of this publication, we published all of the alternative routes identified as such by the states after which we assigned classifications. The publication grew from 170 pages in 1990, to 446 in 2003. The number of “alternate routes” described in the publication grew from 70 to 144 during that time period.

No one denies there has been tremendous growth in the development of alternate routes. However, there is distortion in the numbers. For example, several states have renamed certifcation routes they have had for years “alternate routes”, some are now calling M.A.T. (Master in the Arts of Teaching) programs “alternate routes”, and others consider anything short of completion of a traditional college-based teacher preparation program an “alternate route.”

While this proliferation has been going on, a growing number of states have gone back to the drawing board and designed avenues to certification, which specifically meet the needs of growing numbers of postbaccalaureate candidates, many of whom have had careers in other fields, and who now want to teach.

As more and more states have developed these new alternative routes, similar characteristics have evolved. Candidates who get certified to teach through these routes:

  • Have at least a bachelor’s degrees.
  • Pass a rigorous screening process, such as passing tests, interviews, and demonstrated mastery of content to be taught.
  • Begin teaching – usually full-time – early. They engage in on-the-job training.
  • Take any coursework or equivalent experiences in professional education studies while teaching.
  • Work with mentor teachers.
  • Meet high performance standards.

In order to further clarify what alternative routes truly are, and to not only distinguish among them, but to also separate them from programs that are not really alternate routes, per se, this 2004 edition of ALTERNATIVE TEACHER CERTIFICATION: A State-by-State Analysis lists descriptions of the avenues to teaching by classification of the alternate routes to teacher certification.

Part I includes only Class A and Class B Alternate Routes to Teacher Certification. These alternative routes meet these criteria:

CLASS A:

  • The alternative teacher certification route has been designed for the explicit purpose of attracting talented individuals who already have at least a bachelor's degree in a field other than education in elementary and secondary school teaching.
  • The alternate route is not restricted to shortages, secondary grade levels or subject areas.
  • These alternative teacher certification routes involve teaching with a trained mentor, and any formal instruction that deals with the theory and practice of teaching occurs while teaching -- and sometimes in the summer before and/or after.

CLASS B:

  • Teacher certification routes that have been designed specifically to bring talented individuals who already have at least a bachelor's degree into teaching. These alternate routes involve specially designed mentoring and some formal instruction. However, these routes either restrict the program to shortages and/or secondary grade levels and/or subject areas.

Since these avenues to teacher certification have been designed specifically to meet the needs of talented individuals from non-traditional backgrounds who want to teach, NCEI considers only these to be true alternative routes to teacher certification. A summary of the entry requirements and the program requirements for the 31 such routes can be found by clicking on their links.

PART II includes only Class C Alternate Routes to Teacher Certification that meet the following criteria:

CLASS C:

  • A review of academic and professional background, and transcript analysis of the candidate.
  • Development of specially (individually) designed inservice and course-taking necessary to reach competencies required for certification, if applicable. The state and/or local school district have major responsibility for program design.

PART III includes only Class D and Class E Alternate Routes to Teacher Certification that are housed at and/or controlled by institutions of higher education, some of which lead to a Master’s degree and some which lead to certification after college courses and other requirements are met, and that meet the following criteria:

CLASS D:

  • These routes entail review of academic and professional background, and transcript analysis. They involve specially (individually) designed inservice and course-taking necessary to reach competencies required for certification, if applicable. An institution of higher education has major responsibility for program design.

CLASS E:

  • These post-baccalaureate programs are based at an institution of higher education.

PART IV includes only Class H and Class K Alternate Routes to Teacher Certification that are avenues to certification for specific populations of candidates, e.g., Teach for America, Troops To Teachers, college professors who want to teach in K-12 schools, or distinguished scholars in a field.

CLASS H:

  • This class includes those routes that enable a person who has some "special" qualifications, such as a well-known author or Nobel Prize winner, to teach certain subjects.

CLASS K:

  • These avenues to certification accommodate specific populations for teaching, e.g., Teach for America, Troops to Teachers and college professors who want to teach in K-12 schools.

PART V includes only Class G Alternate Routes to Teacher Certification that exist to enable individuals who need to fulfill missing requirements for regular certification in the state. For example, a teacher moving from one state to another.

CLASS G:

  • Programs in this class are for persons who have few requirements left to fulfill before becoming certified through the traditional approved college teacher education program route, e. g., persons certified in one state moving to another, or persons certified in one endorsement area seeking to become certified in another.

PART VI lists the states that report they are not currently implementing any type alternate route to teacher certification.

CLASS I:

  • States with no alternate route to teacher certification.

Additional changes in the 2004 edition of Alternative Teacher Certification: A State-by-State Analysis include:

  • Glossary of terms and acronyms.
  • Reciprocity.
  • Institutions of higher education (IHEs) that have alternative teacher preparation programs, as well as IHEs that have any program for the preparation of teachers, are listed state-by-state in a separate section.
  • Individual state data, formerly at the end of each state’s narrative, have been compiled into state-by-state tables.
  • Graph showing the numbers of Alternative Teacher Certification certificates issued from 1991 through 2003.
  • Contact people for alternate routes in each state are listed in a compiled list of State Contacts at the end of the book.

I also take this opportunity to announce the formation of the separate organization, the National Center for Alternative Certification (NCAC), which NCEI established in fall 2003 with an unsolicited discretionary grant award from the U.S. Department of Education. See pages 14 – 15 for the goals and objectives of the Center. All of the material in this publication, as well as additional information concerning alternative routes to certification, can be found on the NCAC web site, www.teach-now.org.

We wish to thank the many people who made this project possible, especially those in every state agency of education who answered our questions, who put up with our numerous telephone calls, e-mails, faxes and mailings and came through with the information that makes this manual so valuable. They have enabled us to tell the current and complete story of alternative routes to teacher certification in the United States.

Emily Feistritzer
February 26, 2004