Alternative

Certification Programs (ACPs) for teaching allot for approximately half a

million certified teachers of K-12 education since its creation in 1984.
While the high numbers of alternatively certified teachers indicate a willingness to
accept this route of certification, the debate about ACPs still exists. Citizens active in
the education field argue whether teachers certified through ACPs are as highly
qualified to teach as teachers who have their Bachelors of Education.

Justin Hickey, 24, is enrolled in Texas Teachers Alternative Certification Program in
Austin, Texas. Hickey, a recent graduate from The University of Texas at Austin with
a Bachelors of Science in Astronomy, did not realize his inclination to teach until
after he had already obtained his undergraduate degree.

Texas Teachers has two options for obtaining certification: a year-long paid
internship or 12 weeks of clinical teaching. I chose the clinical teaching option, said
Hickey. The process for obtaining certification this way is that I must complete 12
weeks of classroom teaching under the supervision of a cooperating teacher, as well
as pass a content exam and a pedagogy exam.

Alternative Certification Programs like Texas Teachers are targeted towards people
like Hickey, who has an expertise in Astronomy and is currently student teaching at
Austins Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA). He teaches high school juniors
and seniors Astronomy, while also observing Physics classes.

Julie Kellagher, 22, is a recent graduate from the University of Texas Communication
School, and didnt realize her inclination to teach until after graduation either. She
serves as a middle school English teacher at YES Prep, a charter school, in Houston,
Texas.

At YES, there is so much additional support from the staff and administration that I
definitely feel qualified to teach my students, said Kellagher.

Alternative Certification Programs began in the early 1980s as ways to ward off
projected shortages of teachersand have become major players in the production
of highly qualified teachers, according to the National Center for Education
Information.

Teacher shortages in the 1980s and today exist due to high teacher-turnover rates.
ACPs were introduced to help combat this issue, and programs such as Teach for
America have also been created to particularly focus on the shortage of highly
qualified teachers in lower socioeconomic areas.

Schools with high-minority and low-socioeconomic populations have always
experienced difficulty recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers. Since low-
performing schools are often located in high poverty neighborhoods, the working
conditions and characteristics of those neighborhoods (population density, income
level, violent crime rate) have impacted their potential teachers career decisions,

according to Alternative Certification and Teach for America: The Search for High
Quality Teachers.

In 2002, huge education reform came in the form of the No Child Left Behind Act. No
Child Left Behind was aimed at establishing equity in education based on the
inalienable right that every kid should have an equal opportunity to learn. In order
to improve education, the No Child Left Behind Act focused on the improvement of
the nations teachers.

With this renewed focus, No Child Left Behind mandates that states support and
expand Alternative Certification Programs to provide alternate routes to the
classroom, according to the No Child Left Behind Act.

By backing ACPs, the government displayed their belief that ACPs can lead to a
teacher being highly qualified to teach students.

Teacher quality has been identified as the most important indicator of school
quality. The effectiveness of the teacher is the major determining factor of long-term
student academic progress. Teacher quality has a cumulative effect on student
achievement, according to Alternative Certification and Teach for America: The
Search for High Quality Teachers.

Elizabeth Merrill, 22, is an education major at the University of Texas at Austin. Set
to graduate in December, Merrill is in her third and last semester of student
teaching.

There is a lack of preparation that goes with alternative certification. It works a lot
better for high school because classroom management isn't as challenging, said
Merrill. For elementary school I'm not a fan because you need all the experience
you can get in a classroom before you have your own for the main purpose of
working on your management skills.

While education majors may be biased towards their path to the classroom, A
minority of studies finds no specific achievement trends associated with either
traditional or alternative pathways, according to the Alternative Certification and
Teach for America: The Search for High Quality Teachers.

Education majors spend their four years of school honing in on behavior and
strategy, while learning how to, not only build lesson plans, but also make them
culturally relevant, according to Merrill. Alternatively certified teachers on the other
hand, have a more comprehensive understanding of a specific area of study.
Having majored in the content area I would like to teach has given me a deep
knowledge of the subject matter that should be required of high school educators,
and the ACP I'm going through is providing me with the skills needed to instruct, as
well as relate to, my future students, said Hickey.


If teachers certified by ACPs continue to rise there may be no end to this debate in
sight. But despite controversy over which method prepares teachers best, most
teachers can agree that the greatest obstacle in the path of education reform is
teacher turnover rates.

Laynie Springer, a 3rd year teacher at an elementary school in Dallas, Texas, holds a
Bachelors degree of Education from the University of Texas at Austin. Springer
believes that no matter what the certification method, longevity is what needs to be
emphasized. Career teachers can make a huge impact, said Springer.

Beginning teachers-individuals with 3 or fewer years of experience- are not as
effective as teachers with more than 3 years of experience, according to the
Alternative Certification and Teach for America: The Search for High Quality
Teachers.

If the best teachers require 3 years of experience and a large percentage of teachers
leave within their first few years of teaching, there will continue to be a shortage of
good teachers who can improve the state of K-12 education in the United States.