Enrollment in traditional special education teacher preparation programs has declined while enrollment in alternative preparation programs has increased in Georgia (Georgia Insights, 2024). Since alternative preparation programs have become the viable recruitment vein for rural schools challenged to fill special education teaching vacancies,…

Society's perception, recruitment, and retention of alternative certified teachers entering the education system is a critical issue in Career and Technical Education (CTE) (Heilig, 2007). Although public education is an important factor in our society and the nation's future, fewer college and university students are majoring in education…

Teacher shortages have been a longstanding issue in U.S. classrooms, largely due to low enrollment in teacher preparation programs. This has led many states to turn to alternative teacher certification programs to fill staffing needs. One such program in Georgia is the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP). This study…

Teacher shortages have been a longstanding issue in U.S. classrooms, largely due to low enrollment in teacher preparation programs. This has led many states to turn to alternative teacher certification programs to fill staffing needs. One such program in Georgia is the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP). This study…

Teacher shortages have been a longstanding issue in U.S. classrooms, largely due to low enrollment in teacher preparation programs. This has led many states to turn to alternative teacher certification programs to fill staffing needs. One such program in Georgia is the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP). This study…

Colleges and universities are trusted with the responsibility of preparing the professionals of tomorrow. However, the number of individuals seeking a profession in education has been on a steady decline over the past 4 decades (King, 2018). This deterioration of education graduates has exacerbated the issue of poor teacher retention, leading to…

Alternative routes to teacher certification have been utilized as a way to address the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education teacher shortage, and this abbreviated path to a teaching career has attracted current educators from the industries for which they are trained. Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education teachers who have entered…

Teacher retention has been linked to student performance and, is considered a measure of teacher preparation and recruiting. Studies confirm that almost half of new teachers leave the profession within five years of teaching. The Georgia Department of Education stated 44% of their newly hired teachers leave the profession by the fifth year. The…

Educational school leaders are experiencing challenges that include high teacher attrition rates and staffing difficulties. The goal of this study was to determine if program exemplars from traditional teacher preparation were transferable to, and aligned with, alternative teacher preparation in an effort to provide viable options for those…

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) developed the Adult Learner Leaders for Institutional Effectiveness (ALLIES) Framework to help guide institutional policies and practices in their work to support adult learners. This document begins by describing the Framework's series of planning and operational domains through which…

As the educational community continues to consider the impact of the proliferation of accountability-aimed reform on students, schools, and communities, the consequences of said reforms on teachers must be included. Results of this study indicate that even distant, broad educational policies manifest in specific and profound ways in teachers'…

Through Focus on Change in Understanding Staff and Staffing Systems in Georgia Public Schools (FOCUS), over 500 teachers of record were recruited, selected, and placed in Georgia's high-need schools. Teachers in the first three cohorts were retained at very high levels as well as achieving full certification. Project outcomes also included the…

This article seeks to characterize Teach For America's (TFA) theoretical framework as engendering disillusionment among its corps members. Given that the corps members have little to no pedagogical or methods training prior to taking on teaching positions through TFA, the lessons learned during the summer training set the stage for the…

The shortage of highly qualified special educators is most pronounced in rural schools serving populations characterized by poverty, low achievement, disability, and cultural diversity. The result is often untrained teachers serving students with the greatest education needs. This article describes efforts by a university in rural middle Georgia…

A teacher shortage in the area of special education has led to an increase in the number of special education teachers who are teaching out-of-field. The lack of pedagogical training of these teachers creates concern about the effectiveness of these teachers. This qualitative study explores the teacher-efficacy of four special education teachers…