Alternate Route Preparation: Nebraska
Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy
Analysis of Nebraska's policies
Nebraska's alternate route program, Transitional Teacher Certificate, is managed by the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Candidates working under this program must have their
transcripts evaluated by a program certification officer to determine
coursework requirements. Six semester hours of coursework must be completed
annually for a total of 18 credit hours. Candidates must also complete a pre-teaching seminar that includes
information and skill development in the areas of diversity, classroom
management, curriculum planning and instructional strategies prior to assuming
responsibility for the classroom.
Transitional Teacher Certificate candidates complete a semester of student
teaching after successful completion of the teacher education coursework. Schools
must provide a quality mentor teacher throughout the length of classroom
teaching.
A Transitional Teaching Certificate may be renewed for a maximum of five years,
provided the applicant is making sufficient progress in the program. Upon
completion of the program, an initial teaching certificate is awarded.
Recommendations for Nebraska
Establish
coursework guidelines for alternate route preparation programs.
Simply
mandating coursework without specifying the purpose can inadvertently send the
wrong message to program providers—that "anything goes" as long as
credits are granted. However constructive, any course that is not fundamentally
practical and immediately necessary should be eliminated as a
requirement.
Provide an induction program to support alternate route teachers.
Nebraska should offer a highly structured, well-supervised induction program for all alternate route candidates. Effective strategies include practice teaching prior to teaching in the classroom, intensive mentoring with full classroom support in the first few weeks or months of school, a reduced teaching load and release time to allow new teachers to observe experienced teachers during each school day.
Ensure program completion in less than two years.
Nebraska should consider shortening the length of time it takes an alternate route teacher to earn standard certification. The route should allow candidates to earn full certification no later than the end of the second year of teaching.
State response to our analysis
Nebraska was helpful in providing NCTQ with the facts necessary for this analysis. The state noted that most institutions have programs which provide alternative pathways to regular certification (post-bachelor programs). Specific requirements for any alternative program, within the overall requirements of the Rule, are established by the program.
Individuals in the states' Transition to Teaching (TTT) program will complete their program in 3 years. The Rule provides for 5 years to complete the TTT, but candidates are expected to complete their program in 3 years to be compliant with traditional NCLB expectations.
The NCTQ analysis is silent on a variety of post-bacc options available through other institutions. These options generally assume a transcript analysis, completion of the same basic professional education courses expected of traditional candidates (but which may be offered in the traditional setting or in an alternate format such as evenings, weekends, online or hybrid). The options made available by institutions are designed to meet the needs of post-bacc students and include some 'streamlined' opportunities as compared to a traditional route.
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Nebraska
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Alternate route programs must provide practical, meaningful preparation that is sensitive to a new teacher's stress level.
Too many states have policies requiring alternate route programs to "backload" large amounts of traditional education coursework, thereby preventing the emergence of real alternatives to traditional preparation. This issue is especially important given the large proportion of alternate route teachers who complete this coursework while teaching. Alternate route teachers often have to deal with the stresses of beginning to teach while also completing required coursework in the evenings and on weekends. States need to be careful to require participants only to meet standards or complete coursework that is practical and immediately helpful to a new teacher.
Induction support is especially important for alternate route teachers.
Most new teachers—regardless of their preparation—find themselves overwhelmed on taking responsibility for their own classrooms. This is especially true for alternate route teachers, who may have had considerably less classroom exposure or pedagogy training than traditionally prepared teachers. While alternate route programs will ideally have provided at least a brief student teaching experience, not all programs can incorporate this into their models. States must ensure that alternate route programs do not leave new teachers to "sink or swim" on their own when they begin teaching.
Alternate Route Preparation: Supporting Research
For a general, quantitative review of the research supporting the need for states to offer an alternate route license, and why alternate routes should not be treated as programs of "last resort," one need simply to look at the numbers of uncertified and out of field teachers in classrooms today, readily available from the National Center for Education Statistics. In addition, with U.S. schools facing the need to hire more than 3.5 million new teachers each year, the need for alternate routes to certification cannot be underestimated. See also E.R. Ducharme and M.K. Ducharme, "Quantity and quality: Not enough to go around." Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 49, No. 3, May 1998, pp. 163-164.
Further, scientific and market research demonstrates that there is a willing and able pool of candidates for alternate certification programs—and many of these individuals are highly educated and intelligent. In fact, the nationally respected polling firm, The Tarrance Group, recently conducted a scientific poll in the State of Florida, identifying that more than 20 percent of Floridians would consider changing careers to become teachers through alternate routes to certification.
We base our argument that alternative-route teachers should be able to earn full licensure after two years on research indicating that teacher effectiveness does not improve dramatically after the third year of teaching. One study (frequently cited on both sides of the alternate route debate) identified that after three years, traditional and alternatively-certified teachers demonstrate the same level of effectiveness, see J.W. Miller, M.C. McKenna, and B.A. McKenna, "A comparison of alternatively and traditionally prepared teachers". Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 49, No. 3, May 1998, pp. 165-176. This finding is supported by D. Boyd, D. Goldhaber, H. Lankford, and J. Wyckoff, "The Effect of Certification and Preparation on Teacher Quality." The Future of Children, Volume 17, No. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 45-68.
Project MUSE (http://muse.jhu.edu/), found that student achievement was similar for alternatively-certified teachers as long as the program they came from was "highly selective."
The need for a cap on education coursework and the need for intensive mentoring are also backed by research, as well as common sense. In 2004, Education Commission of the States reviewed more than 150 empirical studies and determined that there is evidence "for the claim that assistance for new teachers, and, in particular, mentoring [have] a positive impact on teachers and their retention." The 2006 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher validates these conclusions. In addition, Mathematica (2009) found that student achievement suffers when alternate route teachers are required to take excessive amounts of coursework. See An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification: Final Report at: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/education/teacherstrained09.pdf
See also Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative (NCTQ, 2007) at: http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/Alternative_Certification_Isnt_Alternative_20071124023109.pdf.