Special education teachers enrolled in a Virginia-based alternate route certification program were surveyed to determine if they perceived the program was valuable for creating effective special educators, and the focus of the study was on the effectiveness of alternative route programs for teacher preparation. The literature review showed scant…

Alternative certification programs provide a potential solution for teacher shortages in high-needs settings and content areas. These programs often attract career changers, who bring a passion for their content area and a desire to make it relevant to students. Research suggests that support during the first year is critical, but little is known…

Teacher shortages in the United States have resulted in the development of alternate route teaching programs to better provide teachers, especially in difficult to staff schools such as those in rural communities. In order to address rural teacher shortages, the Mississippi State University College of Education implemented a fully online,…

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…

Teach for America (TFA) collaborates primarily with universities in most of its 53 regions throughout the United States, yet there is little research that examines these partnerships. This qualitative interview study explored how TFA Corps Members (CMs) perceived their learning in a small college's graduate teacher education program and how…

The purpose of this article was to examine the use of a gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) embedded in a coteaching framework (Heck & Bacharach, 2016) during the student-teaching portion of an alternative teaching licensure program. The goal was to improve an already existing student-teacher field…

The teacher turnover issue impacts education on national, state, and local levels. On a national level, at the beginning of the 21st century 50% of teachers left the profession within the first five years, creating the need for districts to fill vacancies (Gonzalez, Brown, & Slate, 2008; Greiner & Smith, 2006; Heller, 2004; Ingersoll,…

New teachers who are prepared to teach through alternative certification pathways may find the transition to a new career stressful and tumultuous. There are techniques that can be used to help make the transition easier on new teachers as they begin their new careers. This article explores several strategies for new teachers, which include…

New teachers who entered the profession through alternative pathways often teach in high-need urban environments, which means there may be a significant number of English Language Learner (ELL) students in their classrooms. In order to best support these students, techniques can be employed to best facilitate learning for students who do not have…

This qualitative research study used the Critical Incident Technique to determine specific areas in which novice alternatively certified special education teachers need support. Analyzing these critical incidents provides information for teacher preparation programs to bolster areas that can lead to stress, burnout, and attrition among special…

There is a teacher shortage throughout the US that has reached critical capacity in rural areas. To exacerbate this, new teachers often face difficulties their first year teaching, causing them to leave the profession. One means to combat this growing shortage is to recruit alternatively certified teachers. This study examined the lived…

In this age of teacher accountability, school districts are increasingly interested in using the best possible methods in evaluating their teachers. This interest impacts new alternative certification teachers, as well as traditional teachers. An increasingly popular assessment is the Danielson Framework, which is a set of 22 components of…

The development of one's teaching identity is a dynamic and multi-layered process, which becomes more immediate when one enters the profession through an alternative route, such as Teach For America (TFA). This grounded theory study examines how participation in three interrelated institutions--the urban school, the university, and TFA--directly…

Mathematics and science education has increasingly become more important for students in our globally competitive society. New alternative certification teachers, particularly in mathematics and science, need to support student learning in these areas in order for the United States to stay globally competitive. This article presents some ideas…

In order to assist in alleviating the teaching shortage in poor, rural school districts, also known as Local Education Agencies (LEA's), faculty in the College of Education at Mississippi State University sought funding that would provide financial support for a new alternate route teaching program. This program, known as Learning and Educating…