Alternate_Educator_Licensure

ALTERNATE LICENSURE PROGRAMS BY DEREK D. MARTIN EDU 7531 SEMINAR IN EDUCATIONAL DILEMMAS DR. GERALD HASSELMAN, INSTRUCTOR SUMMER 2007 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE Information The issue of alternate licensure programs has become a popular option for those people who wish to teach but do not possess the training that a person that went through a traditional teacher education program would have. This concept of licensing people to teach began in the early 1980s when education officials saw the need to make sure that the teacher pool would be diversified in terms of the backgrounds of applicants. The number of alternative programs that certify teachers has grown from 12 in 1983 to 485. (Honawar, 2007.) The concept of alternate route licensure is used more by people that would not have ever gone into the teaching profession. In 2004-2005, states issued teaching certificates to more than 50,000 candidates through alternate rout programs, which made up a third of all new teachers hired that year. (Honawar) The effect that these alternate route programs have on schools, particularly the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is that these teachers that are certified through alternate routes are still considered highly qualified teachers if they are teaching in the area in which they are certified. A benefit of the alternate route licensure is that a person could begin teaching right away while completing the requirements for their credentials. (Jacobson, 2005). The alternate route certification has brought about some changes when it comes to who is coming into the profession now. According to a study conducted by The National Center for Alternative Education, participants in Troops to Teachers and the New York City Teaching Fellows program were composed of several different demographic groups. (Jacobson). There were more men than the national average, and the starting age for alternately licensed people were older than thirty (70%) compared to new teachers. The survey also found that 30 percent of alternate route teachers were minority compared to 20% of new teachers as a whole. According to the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, there are four myths regarding alternate route certification that need to be addressed: (Berry, 2001) • Teachers need only some knowledge of subject matter, so shortcut alternative preparation programs can adequately ready teachers for teaching. • Alternative licensure attracts high-quality teachers to the field. • Alternative licensure produces more effective teachers who, in turn, produce higher student achievement. • Shortcut alternative preparation programs are just as likely to recruit teachers who will stay in teaching. The State of Mississippi has four programs that are used for alternate route certification. They are the Mississippi Alternate Path for Quality Teachers (MAPQT), Teach Mississippi Institute (TMI), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and the American Board Certification for Teacher Excellence (ABCTE). (Mississippi Department of Education, 2007). How does this issue affect my school' The issue of alternate route licensed teachers has become a huge factor at my building. I have to first look at staffing in my building. Since alternate route people are certified for grades four through eight, I have to make sure that if I am going to hire a person with an alternate route certification, they can teach grade four only at my building. The grades that I serve at my building are grades three and four. The person would not be considered highly qualified if I placed them in a third grade classroom. Another issue that confronts me when it comes to alternate route people is that they are not trained in the pedagogy and philosophies that shape education today. There have been instances where the person was not capable of teaching students in a classroom. Classroom management is more of a problem for a teacher that comes from a background that is not educational. I have to make sure that alternate route teachers are given the opportunity to succeed as much as a traditional teacher. The alternate route people that I have hired have worked out pretty well for me. Two of them are former assistant teachers at my building, so they are a little more knowledgeable about the children than someone new. I have noticed that alternate route people are a little more intimidated by the work that I am asking them to do than a traditional route teacher. Alternate route people need more support from administration and more time with their mentors to feel comfortable with what they are doing. Those alternate route people can also bring insight from their other expertise before they became educators to improve your school. My Position and Solution In my opinion, the alternate route certification has become a popular option for those people who are interested in the teaching profession who may not want to go through the teacher education programs to become certified. I feel that with the ongoing quality teacher shortage, the alternate route has become a viable tool for school districts to use to acquire quality teachers. I feel that the programs need to be restructured to include more information on teaching strategies and classroom management. The instructional delivery by some alternate route teachers leaves a lot to be desired from time to time. The State Department of Education needs to look at the content and qualifications for these programs so that they won’t become saturated with unqualified applicants to teach children. A solution for the lack of preparedness of these applicants is to have them go through a practice teaching requirement before they are granted a teaching license. This way, a person would have the opportunity to see what goes on in a real classroom setting before they make the commitment necessary to teach children. Another solution would be to require that all alternate route teachers be placed in strong mentor programs to insure that they would succeed because you want them to be just as strong as the traditional route teacher. It does not matter how a person get certified to teach, it’s about the results that a person gets in the classroom with our children. I would also like to address those myths that were listed by Berry. I feel that if a teacher is not knowledgeable of their subject matter, then how will they become an effective teacher in the classroom. I do not feel that alternate route licensure is attracting higher quality people to the educational field because of their lack of educational training that they are receiving at the college level. I don’t feel that student achievement increases because of an alternate route person being in the classroom, but I will say that if you have a dedicated person, you can get excellent results. The program being viewed as a shortcut will only cause problems in the future because of the lack of quality people entering these classrooms to teach our students. I would keep the program, but I would make modifications to the program to ensure that we have the best people available to teach our children. BIBLIOGRAPHY Berry, B. (2001). No shortcuts to preparing good teachers. Educational Leadership, 58, 8. Jacobson, L. (2005). Alternative routes attracting unlikely candidates. Education Week, 24, 3,16. Honawar, V. (2007). Alternative certification programs multiply. Education Week, 33, 16. Sokal, L., Smith, D.G., Mowat, H. (2003) Alternative certification teachers’ attitudes Toward classroom management. High School Journal. Mississippi Department of Education [MDE]. Paths to Mississippi teacher certification. 2007.