Alternate Routes Policy
Alternate Route Providers: Alabama authorizes only colleges and universities to offer alternate route programs. Coursework can only be taken at regionally accredited institutions of higher education with state-approved teacher education programs. Further, the specific requirements are articulated in terms of semester hours, effectively precluding providers that are not institutions of higher education from offering alternate route programs. While Teach For America does operate in the state, all the other alternate route programs are provided by institutions of higher education.
Encourage diversity of alternate route providers.
Alabama should specifically authorize alternate route programs run by local school districts and nonprofits, as well as institutions of higher education. A robust diversity of providers has the potential to help all programs, both university- and non-university-based, to improve.
Further, Alabama should refrain from articulating specific preparation requirements in terms of credit hours, as this effectively precludes providers that are not institutions of higher education from offering alternate route programs.
Alabama recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
Alternate routes should be structured to do more than just address shortages; they should provide an alternative pipeline for talented individuals to enter the profession.[1] Many states have structured their alternate routes as a streamlined means to certify teachers in shortage subjects, grades, or geographic areas. A true alternate route creates a new pipeline of potential teachers by certifying those with valuable knowledge and skills who did not prepare to teach as undergraduates and are disinclined to fulfill the requirements of a new degree.
Some states claim that the limitations they place on the use of their alternate routes impose quality control. However, states control the criteria for who is admitted and who is licensed. With appropriate standards for admission and program accountability, quality can be safeguarded without casting alternate routes as routes of last resort or branding alternate route teachers "second-class citizens."[2]