U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement
November 2004
The U.S. Department of Education's gutsy little Office of Innovation and Improvement published this 60-page briefing on alternative-certification pathways for K-12 teachers. It describes four essential elements of such programs and profiles six actual programs. In Secretary Paige's words, "We scoured the country looking for programs that had stood the test of time and were showing signs of positive results." These turned up in Georgia, Florida, Texas, New York City, Kansas and California. They're wonderfully varied in duration, scope, focus, and cost, but they all lead to full certification and none requires an aspiring teacher (so long as he/she possesses a bachelor's degree) to spend forever in a university classroom before entering a school and beginning to draw a paycheck. What's missing from this report, unfortunately, is consistent, comparable, objective data on how these alternatively certified teachers turn out - and how effective they are (or aren't). You will, however, find here a wealth of subjective evidence about the programs' general success in creating paths into public education for able people, reducing district reliance on "emergency" personnel, and meeting innumerable school needs. You can find it here.
