Creating Multiple Pathways: ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION. For Teachers

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1 A S T U D E N T S F I R S T P O L I C Y P U B L I C A T I O N Creating Multiple Pathways: ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION For Teachers

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3 A S T U D E N T S F I R S T P O L I C Y P U B L I C A T I O N Alternative Teacher Certification: Creating Pathways for Effective Teachers Research shows that teacher quality is the number one in-school factor that influences student learning. 1 Students with the highestperforming teachers gain five to six more months of learning than students in classrooms with the lowest-performing teachers, so putting a great teacher in every classroom is essential. 2 To meet this challenge, districts are increasingly seeking new pipelines through which they can recruit highly talented teachers. That is where alternative teaching certification programs come in. These programs enable states and districts to expand the existing teacher talent pool and place high-caliber teachers in schools by opening new pathways for people of diverse backgrounds to enter the teaching profession. 1 Hanushek, Eric, John Kain, and Steven Rivkin, Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement. Working Paper No. 6691, National Bureau of Economic Research, The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America s Urban Schools, The New Teacher Project (2012): 2, 42. SEPTEMBER 2013

4 C R E A T I N G P A T H W A Y S F O R E F F E C T I V E T E A C H E R S WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION? There are three general pathways into the teaching profession. The first is earning a bachelor s degree with either a major or minor in education. The students who utilize this pathway often know early in their education pursuit that they would like to be teachers. Candidates must still fulfill all state requirements for certification, including passing licensing exams. The second way is through teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities that offer a master s degree in education with accompanying certification and are designed for those who have already obtained bachelor s degrees. The third and newest way into the classroom is through alternative routes. These programs generally provide applicants with the opportunity to earn certification through a streamlined training process, without requiring a degree in education. 3,4 In some states, candidates work in the classroom on provisional licenses that allow full-time teaching while earning certification, through pedagogy courses directly related to their classroom practice. These non-traditional programs enable professionals, who may already be experts in specific subjects, to become teachers without having to go back to school for a lengthy period and earn a traditional education degree. All teachers in a state, regardless of the pathway they choose to enter the profession, must pass the same licensing exams and undergo the same evaluation process once in the classroom, and all teacher preparation programs must meet state requirements to earn approval or accreditation. MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO TEACHING UNIVERSITY 85 % TEACHER CANDIDATES (BACHELOR S OR MASTER S DEGREE IN EDUCATION) MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO THE CLASSROOM State grants teacher certification CHECKPOINT High admissions standards (ideally) 15 % TEACHER CANDIDATES CLASSROOMS ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION PROVIDER Alternative-route candidates may already have advanced degrees in the subject area they hope to teach or relevant work experience, and are ideally admitted through a stringent admissions process. 5 Once admitted into a program, they take specific courses to sharpen their pedagogical knowledge and gain firsthand classroom experience before becoming full-time teachers. After completing the requirements and passing state-specific certification exams, candidates can become teachers. THE STATE PROCESS OF APPROVAL 3 U.S. Department APPROVAL of Education, Office EVALUATION of Postsecondary Education, PUBLIC The DATA Secretary s Seventh DECOMMISSION Annual Report on Teacher Quality: A Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom, Washington, D.C., Sawchuk, Stephen State chiefs to examine teacher prep, licensing. Education Week 32, no. 15: 11, mp=enl-eu-news2. UNIVERSITY 5 Walsh, Kate and Jacobs, Sandi Alternative certification isn t alternative. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality. 6 Ibid. 3 ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION PROVIDERS

5 A S T U D E N T S F I R S T P O L I C Y P U B L I C A T I O N New Jersey established the first alternative route to teacher certification in By allowing candidates with a strong academic track record to enter the classroom immediately, while removing extraneous course requirements (which often do not correlate to better preparation) and providing an effective mentor, the state successfully expanded the candidate pool with high-quality, diverse candidates. 7 In 2010, the Seventh Annual Report on Teacher Quality released by the U.S. Department of Education showed that roughly 15 percent of teachers enter the classroom through alternative routes. 8 Alternative certification programs have been experiencing new growth recently in response to the demand for strong teacher recruits. 9 The new programs have had numerous benefits on our education system, including helping to diversify the teaching profession by increasing the number of male and minority teachers. In addition, alternatively certified teachers are often more willing to teach in urban, high-needs schools and to teach subjects that are typically hard to staff through traditional programs. 10 States with high numbers of teaching vacancies in certain subjects often science, technology, engineering, and math have a particularly compelling need for alternative certification options. WHY ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION? Many teacher recruitment and training practices are outdated and keep motivated and talented professionals out of the profession. Five states currently allow only traditional schools of education to provide teacher preparation programs, or require degrees in the content area taught. 11 They are not flexible enough for a NASA rocket scientist to secure a job teaching high school physics, or for a Pulitzer-prize winning author to teach a writing class. Burdensome rules that sometimes require a master s degree for certification prevent many individuals from even pursuing a career in teaching. Earning a master s degree in education also has not been shown to improve a teacher s ability to increase student learning. 12 What s more, given the influence great educators have on kids lives, the teaching practice needs to do more to attract our most talented college graduates. Education policy experts often note that countries with the world s top-performing school systems recruit 100 percent of their teacher corps from their top third of college graduates. 13 Yet, in the United States, the reality is that only 23 percent of new teachers come from the top third of college graduates, and within the country s highest poverty schools, only 14 percent of teachers come from that same selective pool. 14 A disproportionate amount of graduates from the bottom third 7 Ibid. 8 The Secretary s Seventh Annual Report on Teacher Quality Walsh and Jacobs, Tai, R.H., Liu, C.Q., & Fan, X. (2006). Alternative certification and retention of secondary math and science teachers: A study based on SASS/TFS. Journal of the National Association of Alternative Certification, 1, 2, StudentsFirst. State of Education: State Policy Report Card State Policy Report Card. January 7, (accessed February 20, 2013). The five states are Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming. 12 Chingos, Matthew M., and Paul E. Peterson. It s Easier to Pick a Good Teacher Than to Train One: Familiar and New Results on the Correlates of Teacher Effectiveness. Economics of Education Review, June 2011: Ibid. These countries are South Korea, Finland, and Singapore. 14 Byron Auguste, Paul Kihn, and Matt Miller, Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and retaining the top-third graduates to careers in teaching: An international and market research-based perspective, McKinsey & Company (2010): Ibid. ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION 4

6 C R E A T I N G P A T H W A Y S F O R E F F E C T I V E T E A C H E R S are teaching in high-poverty and high-minority schools. 15 Obviously, part of encouraging top US graduates to choose teaching careers involves making the teaching profession more attractive through better compensation and career ladders, as well as bringing greater prestige to the profession. But alternative certification can help by opening up new pathways into the profession for college graduates who did not pursue an education degree initially but become interested in teaching later. It is important to note that districts do not sacrifice teacher quality when recruiting candidates from non-traditional coursework and preparation requirement routes. Research has shown that teachers who come from high-quality alternative certification programs produce comparable gains in student learning as are produced by traditionally prepared teachers. The data also shows alternatively certified teachers who don t have advanced degrees in education are just as effective as traditionally certified teachers who hold master s degrees. 16 It s clear that there are many benefits of alternative routes to teaching. With alternative certification, districts have a greater selection of teaching candidates with diverse backgrounds, kids get the benefit of being taught by educators who often bring a different set of experiences, knowledge, and motivations into the classroom, and the teacher corps is broadened and diversified. Program Accountability and Transparency With teachers allowed a highly selective yet flexible entry into the profession, alternative preparation programs must be evaluated based on their graduates effectiveness with student growth. Currently, many traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs are admitting thousands of candidates each year with varying levels of entrance standards. It is critical that high GPA standards are maintained and quality mentoring is available, without unrelated and burdensome coursework requirements. 17 States have also authorized programs and reapproved them without determining the impact these teachers will have in the classroom. 18 States must start evaluating their alternative certification programs based on the performance of graduates from those programs. This kind of information will help schools and districts choose the best pipelines from which to recruit teachers for their students and will help future teachers choose the certification programs that will best prepare them for teaching. Though several states are considering implemeting stronger accountabilty systems, currently only five states Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas have clear, rigorous standards for approving and reauthorizing alternative certification programs that link teacher effectiveness in the classroom with program performance. These five states are also the only states that decommission alternative certification programs that do not produce effective educators. Because a growing number of states are adopting meaningful educator evaluation programs, teacher preparation programs now have the unprecedented ability to measure candidates performance both during program training and classroom placement. Many states are leveraging the ability of alternative certification programs to operate outside of the traditional 16 Goldhaber, Dan and Dominic Brewer. Does Teacher Certification Matter? High School Teacher Certification Status and Student Achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Walsh and Jacobs, Ibid. 5 ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION

7 A S T U D E N T S F I R S T P O L I C Y P U B L I C A T I O N How states are addressing issues with certification through alternative routes: ISSUE IMPROVEMENT EXAMPLES Low standards and little selectivity in the application process. Candidates must hold a bachelor's degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 for program eligibility. CT, DC, MI, MN, RI Demonstration of content mastery is required through undergraduate or graduate degree. Requiring undergraduate major in content area taught or degree in education restricts the pool of talented candidates. Content exam mastery allowed in lieu of undergraduate major. DC, MI, RI, CT, MN, LA, TN, MD, MS Lack of accountability for program results. Graduates are not evaluated on their performance in the classroom. Establish clear process for authorizing, evaluating, and decommissioning alternative certification programs that do not produce effective educators. CO, LA, DE, FL, TX educator preparation program structure and creating higher transparency and accountability standards for these pathways. States are best positioned to focus on reporting requirements at three distinct points: entrance, during the program, and post-program. States should link data regarding teaching candidates performance in the classroom with evaluation of program performance. By doing so, states can evaluate program effectiveness and identify top-performing programs as those whose graduates have the greatest impact on student learning. Similarly, states can identify low-performing programs that are not producing effective graduates and revoke their accreditation. ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION 6

8 C R E A T I N G P A T H W A Y S F O R E F F E C T I V E T E A C H E R S From Michelle s Colleagues During her time at P.S. 226, in New York City, Michelle Humphrey worked in both a self-contained setting and an integrated co-teaching (ICT) setting. Her engaging lessons enabled her differently able students to make progress and helped to close their achievement gap. Ms. Humphrey s unique ability to find her students multiple entry points made it possible for each student to have access to the curriculum and standard setting work. As a result, she raised the self-esteem of her students and pushed them to accomplish far more tasks then they ever thought they could. Joanne Allotta, Assistant Principal at P.S. 226 I had the pleasure of working in a collaborative team teaching classroom with Michelle Humphrey, during my first year as a classroom teacher. Michelle, as my mentor, helped mold me into the teacher I am and taught me how a true collaboration and careful planning can have a positive impact on the students. Blair Kaplan Teacher at P.S. 226 ALTERNATIVELY CERTIFIED TEACHER SPOTLIGHT StudentsFirst Teacher Fellow: Michelle Humphrey Michelle is a StudentsFirst Teacher Fellow. In June of 2004,she graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus, with a 3.8 GPA. She tells her story here: In 1998, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with a double major in social work and sociology. After graduating, I moved to Minneapolis and began my social work career at YouthLink as a truancy case manager. I stayed in that position for a few years before advancing to Program Supervisor for the homeless youth drop-in center. It was during my time in that role that I decided to go back to school and obtain my Masters in Social Work, from the University of Minnesota. Soon after graduation, I worked with the Minneapolis NAACP as a Community Relations Consultant and helped to develop and implement the NAACP youth council. While I loved this, I wanted to do something different to help our youth become more self-sufficient and productive members of society. It was at that time that I applied and was accepted to the New York City Teaching Fellows program as a Special Education Teacher. In July of 2004, I moved to Brooklyn and began the program, simultaneously earning my second Masters in Elementary Education and working full-time as a Special Education Teacher in a selfcontained K-2 classroom at P.S. 226 in Brooklyn, NY. I graduated from the City University of New York, College of Staten Island, in August of 2007, with a 3.7 GPA and teaching licenses for Elementary K-6 and Special Education K-6. For my first two years of teaching, I taught in a K-2 special education class. During my two years teaching that class, three of my twelve students transitioned to a general education classes because they were able to keep up with their mainstream peers. Also, one student with cerebral palsy (and the most infectious laugh) increased his reading abilities by two grade levels in his first year with me. I was able to help my students succeed because I created engaging, appropriate educational lessons that met the needs of each of my students. During my third year at P.S. 226, I taught 1st grade in a Collaborative Team Teaching Setting. At the end of the year, my co-teacher and I were able to promote five general education students to participate in the accelerated curriculum for more advanced students the following year. Additionally, 100% of our special education students met and surpassed their individual education goals and objectives. Without the alternative certification program, I never would have been able to impact these students and their families lives but equally as important, they never would have had the chance to impact my life as well. Because of my experiences with the New York City Teaching Fellows program and the students I was able to teach, my life s mission has forever been changed by my kids at P.S ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION

9 A S T U D E N T S F I R S T P O L I C Y P U B L I C A T I O N Elements of Model Programs Currently many states still have barriers in place that prevent non-traditional individuals from entering the teaching profession, despite state regulations that require all teachers to pass the same state-certification exams prior to entering the classroom. Such barriers include: Complicated credentialing or certification requirements not related to student achievement. Restricting classroom placement for teachers provisionally certified through alternative programs. Maintenance of a linkage between content knowledge standards and undergraduate majors. Requirements of onerous or irrelevant coursework or attainment of advanced degrees. Fortunately, five states Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Rhode Island provide a basic model for states to follow in establishing high-quality alternative pathways for teachers: Allow certification and classroom placement of teachers from alternative programs; Require alternative certification programs to have selective admission standards, such as higher undergraduate GPA requirements (3.0 or higher or 2.5 or higher combined with at least 5 years of relevant work experience) or a graduate degree in the content area; and Remove overly burdensome and meaningless barriers to teaching such as advanced degree requirements or coursework requirements unrelated to pedagogical practice; instead, allow demonstration of subject mastery through passage of a content exam. Even though it may seem counterintuitive to remove advanced degree requirements from alternative certification programs, research supports this policy. With the exception of very few subject areas most notably, secondary mathematics teachers with an advanced degree in the subject they teach have been shown to be no more effective than those without such degrees. 19 Earning a master s degree in education (from a teacher-training master s program, for example) has not shown to improve a teacher s ability to increase student learning. 20 Thus, states should look at other criteria when determining who should be in front of a classroom. 20 Goldhaber and Brewer, Chingos and Peterson, ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION 8

10 C R E A T I N G P A T H W A Y S F O R E F F E C T I V E T E A C H E R S The Future of Alternative Certification Recently, boards of education and organizations such as the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) have called for states to make teacher licensing standards and certification exams more rigorous and to publish teacher preparation data. 21 Given that alternative certification program candidates are able to enter the classroom through more flexible rules and a shorter training timeline, these new routes are deserving of the higher standards. States have the authority to require them. The future of a program s continuing accreditation should depend on its ability to produce effective teachers. States that build transparency and reporting requirements at the three distinct points mentioned previously entrance, during the program, and post-program are best equipped to monitor preparation program effectiveness. Elements of program monitoring and evaluation could include: ENTRANCE: Average GPA of incoming applicant; relevant work experience and other training. DURING PROGRAM: Attrition/retention/completion rates during the program, and teacher performance data (as measured by student growth) over the term of their clinical practice component; POST-PROGRAM: Percentage of graduates finding full-time teaching jobs, part-time teaching jobs, and where they were hired; Evaluation results from the first and/or second year of teaching; Satisfaction ratings by school principals and teacher supervisors of programs student teachers, using a standardized form to permit program comparison; Average raw scores of teacher candidates on licensing tests, including academic proficiency, subject matter and professional knowledge tests; Number of times, on average, it takes teacher candidates to pass licensing tests; and Five-year retention rates of graduates in the teaching profession. 22 As a means of ensuring every student has access to an effective teacher, alternative certification routes are one way to expand the existing talent pool for districts. Program accountability is vitally important, however. Districts rely on states to produce accessible, transparent program performance data that can be used to inform both hiring and teacher candidate program selection. Ultimately, establishment of alternative pathways plays an even larger role beyond district recruitment efforts. Alternative certification routes are a mechanism for improving the teaching profession as a whole. These programs help break down barriers for individuals who have much to contribute as teachers. Through greater accountability for alternative routes, preparation program quality takes on a more significant meaning as well, one with an emphasis on getting results in the classroom. 21 Sawchuk, State chiefs to examine teacher prep, National Council on Teacher Quality. Improving Teacher Preparation, National Summary, 2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook. (2012). Washington, DC. accessed February 1, ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION

11 TO VIEW OR DOWNLOAD STUDENTSFIRST POLICY PUBLICATIONS, JUST VISIT ELEVATING THE TEACHING PROFESSION: INCREASING TEACHER QUALITY GREAT TEACHERS FOR EVERY CHILD: A MATTER OF SOCIAL JUSTICE ALTERNATIVE TEACHER CERTIFICATION: CREATING PATHWAYS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHERS EMPOWERING PARENTS WITH QUALITY CHOICE: SCHOOL CHOICE TODAY EMPOWERING PARENTS WITH DATA: SCHOOL REPORT CARDS EMPOWERING PARENTS WITH CHOICE: PARENT TRIGGER CHANGE THE LEADERSHIP, CHANGE THE RULES: IMPROVING SCHOOLS THROUGH MAYORAL & STATE GOVERNANCE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS Alternative Teacher Certification: Creating Pathways for Effective Teachers was written by Rae Shih Rae Shih is a Policy Analyst with StudentsFirst, focusing on teacher preparation, charter establishment and accountability, and Common Core policies. Prior to joining the Policy Team at StudentsFirst, she taught Algebra II and Advanced Math at a charter school in New Orleans through Teach For America. Rae graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Social Policy and Math Methods in the Social Sciences.

12 StudentsFirst is a bipartisan grassroots movement of more than 2 million citizens nationwide working to ensure educators are valued for the critical role they play in kids lives, families have high-quality school choices and a real say in their children s education, and our tax dollars are spent wisely on what works for kids. Led by former Washington D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, StudentsFirst is active in 18 states and has successfully helped pass more than 135 student-centered policies across the country. For more information visit K Street Sacramento, California T: F: studentsfirst.org 2013 StudentsFirst. All rights reserved.