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Building a strong, diverse teacher workforce in sufficient numbers requires understanding of the points along the pathway into the teaching profession where aspiring teachers are most likely lost. Currently, policymakers, state education agencies, and teacher prep programs have limited insight into the obstacles along this pathway, largely due to incomplete or inaccurate data. This makes it hard to identify when and why prospective teachers, particularly persons of color, elect not to consider teaching or, having started down the pathway, exit prematurely. In this study, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) focuses on a pivotal point for elementary teachers: when teacher candidates take their licensure tests on the content knowledge defined by states as necessary for the job of teaching. States generally expect elementary teachers to have foundational knowledge in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Low rates of candidates passing licensure tests, especially for candidates of color, have become the subject of considerable debate in states across the country and have some states questioning their testing regimes. These low pass rates present a challenge for policymakers and educator preparation programs working to both diversify the profession and also ensure that every classroom is staffed with a well-prepared teacher. This paper provides the framework for the pass rate data available for each state. While the focus here is on elementary content licensure tests, the analysis can be applied to any assessment on any subject or grade span. [This report was funded by the Gates Family Foundation.]

The paper proposes an integrated model of pre-service preparation of teachers by incorporating the principles of critical and constructive approach to teacher education. The paper is an attempt to share the draft of the model with the national audience of teacher educators. The model proposed is integrated, among other things, in that in addition to the impact of teacher education on the behavior of teachers in classrooms the cognitive, moral, and ethical aspects of teacher and their connection with policy levers such as teacher evaluation and course requirements are incorporated. This alternative orientation to teacher education, the author hopes, will help create discussion about ways to meet the age old conflicts in teacher preparation like those between theory and practice and those between liberal and technical nature, and that between more school experience and more academic content courses. The paper is an attempt to share the draft of the model with the national audience of teacher educators.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Schools teachers are required to deliver current and relevant industry and workplace knowledge to senior students in secondary schools. One of the ways in which VET in Schools teachers can be well prepared to teach VET Industry Curriculum Framework courses is to take teachers from an industry background and return them to schools after an accelerated teacher training program. These teachers also need sufficient knowledge of the technologies required for the broad and varied subjects offered in Technology and Applied Studies in NSW schools. This paper examines some of the findings of a longitudinal study which took a case study approach to try and find out how some of these teachers have coped with the demands of pedagogy and practice in rural and regional NSW schools. While acknowledging all teachers are individuals, the researcher was interested in finding out whether this pathway produced a new "type" of teacher. The study used interviews, site visits, emails and conversations with the twelve participants, to try and understand the reality of the new professional lives of these teachers. Interviews were also conducted with other staff in each school. Where possible, the Principal of the school was interviewed. As well as looking at each participant as a case study, cross case analysis was also undertaken to ascertain any patterns or similarities emerging from the data. This paper is based on that cross case analysis. The findings demonstrate that these new teachers have a valuable and quite different contribution to make to technology pedagogy and practice in the NSW secondary system as well as offering workplace knowledge and experience in pathways from school to further vocational education and training. These findings are bound to the specific teachers and context of the study so the intention is to understand the ways in which these teachers create authentic learning spaces using their experiences from industry.

U.S. teacher educators are faced with serious challenges to demonstrate the quality of the graduates they prepare. These challenges are expressed in the country's fixation on accountability and testing. We are witnessing the growth of standardized tests and alternative routes to certification as panaceas intended to solve the teacher shortage crisis in most states. National accreditation and state program approval agencies are attempting to stem the tide through the ever-increasing demand for standards-based assessment data documenting teacher quality. The common set of standards used nationally for accreditation was developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and promulgated by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) in the form of ten principles. Each of the principles includes indicators written at the knowledge, skill, and dispositional levels, forming constructs that colleges are required to measure. Sadly, neither the profession nor the accreditors have realized the need for objective measurement. This is largely a function of what Stiggins bemoans as assessment illiteracy (2000). They are satisfied, at best, with ordinal scales for poorly constructed criteria on ill-defined tasks, or, at worst, with counting papers in portfolios constructed without regard to any form of psychometric consideration (Wilkerson and Lang, 2003). In this paper, however, the focus was on assessment of dispositions. (Contains 5 tables and 6 figures.)

This document reports on the findings of an NSF-funded conference (STEM ACT) on the alternative certification of science teachers. The conference explored the issues that have arisen in science education as a result of the proliferation of alternative certification programs in the United States, and to identify the research that needs to be done to reconcile the rapid growth of these programs with the demands that national standards and state curriculum frameworks put on science teacher quality. Alternative certification for science teachers has become a tapestry woven of various strands - political and professional, ideological and academic. Given the complexity of issues, the continued growth, and the on-going investment of public resources associated with alternative certification, a comprehensive, in-depth and systematic descriptive analysis is needed to help evaluate the ways in which alternative teacher certification does or does not address teacher supply and demand, and science teacher quality. Therefore, one purpose of the STEM ACT conference was to identify key features and issues relating to alternative teacher certification as the basis for suggesting a more systematic approach to the study of alternative teacher certification efforts. The STEM ACT conference was held in early May 2006 in Arlington, VA. It was a working conference in which 65 participants presented and discussed 42 papers. Most of the papers are available on-line on the conference website. The conference was organized along three themes: (1) An overview of the existing policy on alternative certification of secondary (middle and high school) science teachers in the US, including key assumptions and questions; (2) A synthesis of existing research about the needs, methods, and outcomes of alternative certification for science teachers; and (3) An in-depth look at existing practice through the examination of particular cases of alternative programs for science teacher preparation. On the last day of the conference participants were grouped into writing committees to begin the preparation of white papers on each theme. The findings of the conference are presented in this document. Appendixes list papers presented. (Individual sections contain references, tables, and figures.)

This paper describes 10 factors that impact misguided perceptions of teacher preparation and teacher quality, especially elementary teachers prepared in highly-structured, university-based teacher preparation programs: (1) the offshoot of P-12 preparation, prior to attending postsecondary programs; (2) alignment of certification tests to state mandates for teacher preparation (i.e., legislated courses and content versus state or national certification tests); (3) student achievement test scores (i.e., children in grades K-6) as a way to assess the quality of teacher preparation and then holding the teacher preparation program responsible for those test scores; (4) aggregated test score data required through Title II; (5) hiring practices of school districts (i.e., the number of teachers who are uncertified, temporarily certified, or teaching out of field); (6) state and national regulations and policies governing teacher preparation programs (i.e., mandating national accreditation and state specific program approval processes); (7) few alternative certification portals address the elementary routes; (8) professional development opportunities for beginning teachers; (9) practice versus experience; and (10) the difference between a highly qualified teacher and a qualified teacher. (SM)

There is a growing, but frequently unrecognized, group of nontraditional students in teacher education programs today, defined as people entering such programs after a prolonged absence from formal education and/or people changing careers. This paper presents two teacher educators' reflections on their failure to recognize such student diversity in their elementary social studies methods course, noting how it negatively affected the classroom climate and instruction and discussing how the educators worked to enhance learning for all students. Throughout the semester, the educators engaged in reflection-on-action and deliberate reflection. After each class session, they discussed what they had taught, how they taught it, students' responses, and how they interpreted the responses in light of their goals for the course. Through this reflection, they began to recognize the diversity of their students and tensions within the classroom between traditional and nontraditional students. Differences between the groups included: students' recognition of prior knowledge, students' acquisition of new knowledge, and students' awareness of remaining gaps in learning. The educators used their understandings to make future decisions that would make instruction more relevant to the entire class. The paper presents implications for practice related to identifying students' status and designing and developing activities. (Contains 17 references.) (SM)

This paper examines the development and first 5 years of t-center, one organization's attempt at nontraditional preparation. t-center is an academic research/applied practice unit charged with the preparation of new teachers and professional development of experienced teachers located within a graduate school of education housed at a research university. Since its establishment, t-center has attempted to create a nontraditional subculture that supports a very different approach to teacher education within a traditional institutional culture. This study examined the facilitators of and barriers to transforming small, existing educational units into a larger, long-established educational organization. Data collection involved participant observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. Results provided respondents' recommendations for an effort like the t-center in the areas of leadership, staffing, mission and norms, relationship with the graduate school/university, resources (particularly funding and space), time and involvement of constituents beyond those in the center or host institution, and establishment of an advisory board. Changes the center is making seem responsive to the nation's social needs (e.g., educational environments for the increasing numbers of diverse students). (SM)

This paper discusses the need to build instructional capacity in high poverty, low performing schools using Title I funding and integrate the corresponding federal policy requirements with state teacher education policies to allow states and districts to develop locally designed partnerships with alternative certification agencies. It recommends building instructional capacity by allowing alternative certification programs to place certified and qualified teachers into high-poverty, low-achieving schools using Title I funding. Two interrelated strategies that alternative certification programs need for building instructional capacity in high poverty schools include cultivating programs that certify teachers' content knowledge and providing those teachers with pathways to develop the pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge needed to improve the quality of their instruction. The paper suggests specific policy recommendations for holding alternative certification programs accountable to state performance-based teacher standards and student assessment results. Implementation issues that influence such efforts include time (quality teachers are needed immediately) and concentration of alternatively-certified teachers in already high-poverty, low-performing schools. (Contains 43 references.) (SM)

The composition of America's teaching force has perilously lagged behind the country's increasingly diverse student body. Currently, more than 50 percent of the K-12 student body in public schools in the United States is made up of individuals of color. This change reflects broader demographic shifts that have been taking place in the US over the past several decades. However, looking at the make-up of the teaching force in America's schools, you will see a different picture. Today, only about 18 percent of teachers are individuals who identify as African American, Latinx, Asian, Native American, or other nonwhite groups. In addition, while we see high numbers of attrition for all teachers across the board, teachers of color (TOC) leave the teaching profession at higher rates. The tenuous state of diversity in America's teaching workforce has implications for the country's education overall, as well as for the growing numbers of students of color. This paper reviews the current literature that addresses the lack of teacher diversity in U.S. schools, focusing on four areas: (1) The overall picture of the state of diversity, or lack thereof, in the country's teacher workforce; (2) The key issues contributing to the "leaky" pipeline of individuals of color in the teaching profession; (3) The central challenges around the retention of TOC in their schools and the teaching profession in general; and (4) Promising practices in the field that provide hope and impetus for future change.

Closing the teacher diversity gap is one of the most important steps we can take to make public education more equitable. But as many school systems across the country have prioritized the issue, one institution has largely escaped scrutiny: teacher preparation programs. In this report, we use data from the U.S. Department of Education to compare the demographics of each state's teacher preparation program enrollees to that of public school students to calculate a "teacher prep diversity gap." We also highlight individual teacher preparation programs that are--and are not--recruiting enough teachers of color to match student demographics in their states. Findings include: (1) Teacher preparation programs are significantly whiter, on average, than the public school population; (2) Teacher prep diversity gaps exist in almost every state; (3) A significant percentage of programs--serving a significant number of future teachers--are more than 90 percent white; and (4) Alternative certification programs are significantly more diverse than traditional programs. We also provide a series of recommendations for programs, districts, and state governments. We are in no way suggesting that teacher preparation programs are solely responsible for the shortage of teachers of color. But to address this problem, all parties involved--from the state and federal government, to teacher preparation programs, to districts--need to commit to and be held accountable for doing better. We hope this paper can help start conversations across the country on an important topic, and hopefully encourage education leaders to make diversifying the teaching profession a top priority.

This paper presents a review of theory and research dealing with alternative teacher certification policy. It begins by examining the context for alternative teacher certification through the lens of Human Capital Theory. It defines alternative certification and describes the history and present status of alternative certification policies. The research on the effectiveness of alternative certification is summarized, and contradictions in the effects of alternative certification policies on different stakeholder groups are identified. Data were obtained through a review of literature and research. They reflect a national view, with some state examples that include North Carolina and Texas. An initial search of the ERIC database yielded the original data, and additional sources were added. Alternative certification has been broadly defined as a method of entry into the teaching profession that does not require the completion of a traditional teacher education program. Some alternative certification programs are no more than provisions for emergency or provisional certification, but others provide training for liberal arts graduates who wish to teach and earn standard certification. Interest in alternative certification programs seems to be rooted in a need to address declining numbers of teachers, a concern with the quality of individuals who choose teaching as a career, and a desire on the part of the general public to allow entry into teaching by individuals perceived to have skills needed by the schools. Research reveals increasing numbers of alternative routes for preparing teachers. All states currently have some program other than the traditional teacher certification route to teaching. Alternative certification programs allow individuals to enter the teaching profession with different stocks of human capital as a result of their investment in either a liberal arts or traditional teacher education program. At this time, the research base comparing the quality of alternatively and traditionally certified teachers is not large, but studies to date have generally found few differences between alternatively and traditionally certified teachers. Some implications of alternative certification programs are discussed. (Contains 75 references.) (SLD)

Despite a high attrition rate among urban teachers, some have remained and have proven to be effective with the urban population of learners. This paper determines the perceptions of urban teachers and university faculty of the role of an effective urban teacher and compares these perceptions to the natural behavioral styles of candidates for an initial and alternative licensure program in a College of Education. Using two instruments (The Role Behavior Analysis and the Personal Profile System), the study assessed information collected from 20 effective urban teachers, 11 teacher educators from an urban university that places emphasis on the preparation of teachers for urban schools, and 34 candidates for alternative teacher licensure in an urban setting. The study showed similarities between expectations of urban teachers and urban university professors about the behaviors of effective teachers in the urban setting: effective urban teachers have a primary drive for influencing (or inducement), a secondary drive for dominance, and a drive for steadiness that comes in last. Differences were in the strengths of the tendencies. Comparing these perceptions with predictions for success, as indicated by the Urban Teacher Selection Interview, showed no similarities in the prediction of success using this process with the behavioral patterns that met expectations of teachers and university professors. Four tables and one figure are included. (Contains 40 references.) (GLR)

Secondary career and technical education (CTE) is a field in transition. It is moving from a primary focus on preparing students for entry-level employment to preparing them for continuing education and training as well as employment. The rapid pace of change in technology and the global economy has created a demand for workers who are able to learn and adapt, and CTE must prepare its students to meet these demands. The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) is responding to these developments with a number of projects, some of which are being conducted by its own staff and others that are being directed by institutions that are partners in the NRCCTE consortium. Two of the projects are developing professional development models for improving the skills of secondary CTE teachers. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is developing and testing an induction model for alternatively certified teachers; that is, those who have not completed a traditional teacher education program. NOCTI (formerly the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute) is applying its expertise to a professional development model designed to improve the ability of secondary-level CTE teachers and administrators to interpret data from technical skill assessments to improve instruction. An analysis of the field test data provided clear indicators as to changes needed in program materials to meet the needs of alternative route teachers. Many learning activities were revised to fit the audience in order to provide more time for reflection or to clarify content. Field test participants identified key elements of the modules that they felt would be necessary for new teachers prior to entering the classroom, including: (a) the use of rubrics, (b) formative and summative assessment, (c) how to use a table of specifications to align their instructional goals and assessments to technical standards and 21st century skills, (d) getting to know students, (e) engaging students in developing classroom rules and procedures, and (f) classroom management scenarios. Data suggested that three strategies used by program developers were particularly effective in supporting participant learning: (a) use of examples in participants' content areas, (b) use of "floating" one-on-one and small group coaching during cooperative learning segments, and (c) facilitated small group discussion in the afternoon or evening to structure reflection. Field testing on the model will continue through 2012, when the fully-developed model will be ready for rigorous experimental testing. Appendices include: (1) Concept Paper for Instructional Planning Module; (2) Concept Paper for Instructional Strategies Module; (3) Concept Paper for Classroom Assessment Module; (4) Concept Paper for Classroom Management Module; (5) Flowcharts of Module Units and Lessons; (6) Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale Results; (7) Focus Group and Instructor Debrief Protocols; (8) Results of Year 1 Five-State Survey, Summary of Survey Responses; and (9) Material Review Protocol. (Contains 16 tables, 9 figures and 5 footnotes.)

With the introduction of free primary education throughout Africa over the past 20 years, the demand for more qualified teachers has grown tremendously (Nilsson, 2003). Mainstream teacher education programs, typically consisting of 1-3 years of residence in teachers' colleges and some form of practice teaching, are unable to meet this escalation in demand. Given this, many countries have resorted to alternative models of teacher education to supply the needed teachers in a short period of time ("Global Campaign for Education," 2006; Lynd, 2005; Moon, 2007). A number of hybrid programs have also emerged to deal with this increased demand for more teachers. With myriad approaches to teacher education and recruitment in place simultaneously, the quality of most teacher education programs has declined, resulting in calls for increased attention to quality (Carnoy, 2007). Isolation of teacher educators is not conducive to the development of teacher colleges as high quality professional institutions. This paper responds to this need for collective reflection. In this paper, the authors take the perspective that teacher educators can transform their practice through 1) updating their knowledge on salient educational issues for teacher education, 2) engaging in critical dialogue about those issues in relation to their personal beliefs and the local context and 3) developing a reflective approach to their practice. The content of all the chapters is aligned with these purposes. The main body of each chapter consists of the main theoretical ideas underlying reforms in education. This is followed by proposed seminars that prompt the participating teacher educators to carefully examine their own system of teacher education and reflect on the possible ways of removing impediments to reform. Given the central importance of the idea of professional learning communities, the first chapter is devoted to surveying this idea. While the rest of the themes in the remaining chapters will vary, the authors hope that seminars at the end of each chapter will be part of a general effort to form professional learning communities. Appended are: (1) an example of a holistic rubric that teachers may use to tell learners about the progress in reading at the end of a term; and (2) an example of how a teacher educator uses an analytic rubric to assess Parts of Speech Picture Books made by student teachers. Individual chapters contain footnotes and references. (Contains 30 tables and 7 figures.)

The purpose of this paper is to review literature on the alternative certification policy so as to identify key features and issues as the basis for suggesting a more systematic approach to the study of the policy efforts. Alternative teacher certification has become a proliferating phenomenon in the United States in response to current and projected widespread teacher shortages. The growth of alternative certification, while rapid, has not been systematic and there is little agreement on how to define, structure and ensure quality control across a diverse array of programs. In the course of nearly 20 years of implementation of alternative certification, the policy landscape has been dominated by a myriad of definitions and programs, intense debate about the professional legitimacy of the solution, and mixed, inconclusive and even contradictory research in terms of the effectiveness of such programs. Although the projected severe nationwide teacher shortages have not materialized in general, such shortages do exist in specific localities and specialties, indicating that teacher distribution rather than production is the issue. Nevertheless, despite the endeavor to solve the generic teacher production problem at the macro level, alternative teacher certification has been criticized for having fallen short of addressing teacher distribution and retention at the micro level, that is, in most hard-to-staff schools in urban and rural areas and in high-need subject areas, such as mathematics and science, English as a second language, bilingual education, and special education, and for teachers of color and male teachers. Given the complexity of issues, the continued growth, and the on-going investment of public resources associated with alternative teacher certification, a comprehensive, in depth and systematic descriptive analysis is needed to help evaluate the effectiveness of the policy in addressing teacher supply and demand, teacher production and distribution. Classification of Alternative Routes is appended.

Over the past decade, educators and policymakers have sought to increase the number of students pursuing and completing postsecondary credentials. Community colleges play an important role in efforts to increase the percentage of Americans with postsecondary education. Community colleges play an important role in educating the early childhood workforce today--and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Thus it is important to ensure that community college early childhood programs are high quality, provide the supports that early childhood workers need to successfully complete degrees, and enable graduates to successfully transition to four-year degree programs. To maximize the value of community colleges in developing both the current and future early childhood workforce, policymakers and advocates need a clear understanding of the roles that community colleges currently play in preparing and developing early childhood workers and the quality of existing programs, as well as a clear vision for the role that these institutions should play going forward. This paper seeks to help early childhood stakeholders understand the role that community colleges play in preparing and developing early childhood workers and the challenges they face in doing so. First, it provides an overview of the current state of community college early childhood programs, the students they serve, and the outcomes they produce. Then it highlights models of innovative strategies--at both the institution and state policy level--to help early childhood educators succeed in community college programs and go on to obtain higher levels of credentials. Finally, it offers recommendations for community college leaders, early childhood advocates, and policymakers seeking to maximize the potential of community colleges to support professional development and credential attainment for early childhood educators.

Rasch measurement can provide a much needed solution to scaling teacher ability. Typically, decisions about teacher ability are based on dichotomously scored certification tests focused on knowledge of content or pedagogy. This paper presents early developmental work of a partial credit teacher ability scale of 42 tasks (performances and products) with 348 rated items or criteria. The tasks and criteria are aligned with national and state standards for expected teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions. These tasks are being used in two-thirds of Florida school districts and are spreading to colleges of education. Over time there will be many variations in both tasks and criteria, but here we focus on the initial system. A list of tasks created under contract to the Florida Department of Education as the core of the State's alternative certification assessment system is appended. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

This meta analysis examined the results of 24 studies in which traditionally certified teachers were compared with teachers with a variety of other kinds of certificates. The 24 studies allowed for the computation of 192 effect sizes, and 7 kinds of comparison were performed. Findings suggest that traditional teacher training is at least as effective as alternate route training and more effective than minimal (emergency) certification. However, it is clear that some alternative teacher training programs are equally effective in providing quality teachers, and one important predictor of differences in program effectiveness was the location at which teachers were studied (and often trained). The role of experience was highlighted in the comparisons of in-field and out-of-field teacher. In this situation, differences were not apparent for new teachers, but findings favored experienced in-field teachers. An additional finding was that the studies of these alternate routes to teacher certification vary greatly and are not always well reported. Multiple confounded study characteristics appear to relate to the magnitudes of differences that were found, but much addition that might have been of use to the analyses were not reported. (Contains 9 tables and 45 references.) (SLD)