NCREL Policy Issues
Issue 12, November 2002
The Impact of Alternative Certification in the Midwest
A Message From Gina Burkhardt, NCREL Executive Director
Colleagues:
It has become increasingly clear that learning for all students is greatly enhanced by exposure to highly qualified teachers—those who are skilled in their content area and research-based pedagogical practices. In this edition of NCREL's Policy Issues, we continue our program of applied research in the area of teacher and administrator quality and quantity by reviewing the current state of alternative teacher certification in the NCREL region.
In response to the need for a larger pool of high-quality teachers, particularly in urban and rural areas and in subjects like math and science, alternative certification programs have been proliferating across the country. In fact, the No Child Left Behind Act specifically highlights the importance of teacher quality and endorses alternative routes to certification as one approach to addressing this issue. However, in order to determine the impact these programs may have on the quality of classroom instruction, more and better data must be collected and analyzed so that sound policy decisions about their use can be made. This report analyzes two sets of data and offers policy recommendations designed to increase the likelihood that alternative certification programs prepare candidates at the highest level.
As always, your comments and feedback related to our work are invited. Please contact Ray.Legler@ncrel.org for additional information on this study or others in this series.
