This study examines the retention rates of new teachers in Texas given their initial certification type and initial school setting. The 5-year persistence rates of 175,664 teachers from 2000 to 2015 are analyzed using logistic regression to calculate the probability of new teacher persistence at the school, district, and state level. Main findings…

Teach For America (TFA), a prominent alternative teacher certification program, has evolved substantially since it began in 1989. However, most studies ignore this potential variation when evaluating TFA's effects on student outcomes. Using 12 years of administrative data, I test whether TFA's effects on achievement differ over time, focusing on a…

Drawing on nationally representative data from six cohorts of beginning teachers from the Schools and Staffing Survey and the National Teacher and Principal Survey, this study applies a difference-in-differences research design to examine the relationship between changes to state-level alternative certification policies and the characteristics of…

In this article, we illustrate the relationships between Teach For America (TFA) and the deregulation of university-based teacher education programs. We use policy network analysis to create a visual representation of TFA's connections to individuals, organizations, and private corporations who are working to shift the way teachers are prepared.…

Nested within a 5-year examination of Teach for America (TFA) corps members' experiences with learning to teach, this article focuses on the salient theme of "Reform Models" found in data collected when a highly publicized testing cheating scandal was breaking in this urban district. Using constructivist grounded theory, researchers…

Historically, the government has sought to improve the quality of the teacher workforce by requiring certification. Teachers are among the most licensed public personnel employees in the United States. Traditionally, an education degree with a student teaching experience and passage of licensure exams were necessary for licensure. In the 1980s,…

This study uses an innovative methodology and six waves of "Schools and Staffing Survey" data spanning two decades (1988-2008) to assess the potential of midcareer entrants--teachers who enter the profession from careers outside of education--to diversify teaching, staff public schools, and fill vacancies in high-need subjects. We find…

This mixed-method evaluation study examines relationships between the nature and characteristics of teachers' prior experiences and teachers' practice of standards-based instruction as a measure of instructional quality among alternatively certified mathematics and science teachers. The study found that career length, number of prior careers, and…

Although some factors seem to be moving to allow greater decertification of the school principal profession, other factors, moving in the opposite direction, call for greater oversight by government. Four factors - perceived shortage of principals, accountability and the changing role of principals, growing influence of the state over school…

Like many other states, Massachusetts enacted numerous changes to teacher certification policy during the 1980s and 1990s. During the summer of 1998, the state legislature and Department of Education made two especially significant changes: a signing bonus of U.S. $20,000 for an elite group of new teachers, and a state-funded alternative…

The prospect of overseeing the rapid preparation of many participants in fast-track alternative certification programs presents several challenges for state education officials who seek to maintain, or even enhance, the quality of the state's teaching force. This study examined a range of fast-track alternative teacher certification programs in 11…