Alternate Routes Policy
Oregon does not offer any alternate routes to certification.
Oregon issues the Restricted Teaching License to qualified individuals with substantial subject matter preparation, but who have not completed a traditional teacher preparation program. The state requires all candidates with a Restricted Teaching License to enroll in a Commission-approved traditional preparation program as a condition of licensure. Recipients of this license are required to qualify for the Preliminary Teaching License within three years of the issuance of the Restricted Teaching License.
The Restricted Teaching License is addressed in the analysis for 6-B: Provisional and Emergency Licensure.
Establish an alternate route to licensure.
Alaska should establish an alternate route to licensure that is free from regulatory obstacles that inappropriately limit its providers. An alternate pathway of nontraditional candidates can help broaden and deepen the available pool of teachers.
This analysis was changed subsequent to state review. Oregon also provided that it allows preparation for Career and Technical Education (CTE) licensure through approved programs at school districts and other education providers.
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]