In this article, the authors argue for the use of ecological models of development in studies of teachers prepared through alternative certification (AC) programs. Previous studies of candidates in AC programs have focused on variables that describe their demographic characteristics. An ecological approach focuses on persons and situates their…

Does principal licensing encompass the knowledge and skills principals need to promote student learning? If not, what kind of policy framework would help decision makers rethink licensing and the school leadership it supports? To answer these questions, this article examines licensing regulations in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.…

This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the comparability of the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP[TM]) test scores across language and administration condition groups for calibration and validation samples that were randomly drawn from the same population. Fit statistics supported both the calibration and…

Many challenges exist for high-stakes testing programs offering continuous computerized administration. The automated assembly of test questions to exactly meet content and other requirements, provide uniformity, and control item exposure can be modeled and solved by mixed-integer programming (MIP) methods. A case study of the computerized…

With the growing demand for early childhood teachers, Teach For America (TFA) is helping college graduates become early childhood educators. This article reports how TFA trains college graduates to be prepared for the demands of early childhood classrooms. TFA, which was founded in 1990 by then-college student Wendy Kopp, has prepared 17,000…

This paper highlights program-level assessment of learning outcomes in an 8-month Faculty Certificate Program (UBC-FCP) on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The aim of the UBC-FCP is to enhance SoTL in multidisciplinary settings. Essentially, SoTL is an approach to academic work that…

Teacher retention has been of interest to educational researchers for over three decades. Various reasons for special education teacher attrition have been cited, including student discipline and motivation problems, working conditions, low salary, and a lack of administrator support. This descriptive survey research sought to determine the…

The purpose of this study was to identify the concerns of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career changers to better inform teacher education programs on how to best address their unique needs. We identified three career-changers with former STEM-related careers, each seeking a secondary teaching credential in biology and…

States, universities, and school districts have responded to teacher shortages by designing programs that transition college graduates into teaching careers. The result is an increase in the number of graduate preservice teachers preparing for teaching careers in colleges of education. The purpose of this study is to explore graduate preservice…

Prisons are intended to rehabilitate criminal offenders, as well as to punish and incapacitate them. The education and training systems operating within most prisons are a key component of the rehabilitation mission of prisons. Previous studies have shown a relationship between participation in educational programs and recidivism rates, with…

This article highlights the contrasting views between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama on school choice and teacher issues. Senator McCain, R-Arizona, has pledged to direct federal money to alternative teacher-certification programs, give parents more direct access to supplemental educational services, and expand private school…

One controversial aspect of No Child Left Behind is the highly qualified provision. The 2001 act required that teachers of core academic subjects be highly qualified by 2006 or school districts would lose federal funding. Virginia districts are still scrambling to hire qualified teachers. Although the federal government has modified the 2006…

Narrowing the achievement gap will be contingent on preparing high-quality teachers. Results from empirical investigations of novice mathematics and science teachers' indicated that (a) mathematics teachers did not feel prepared to teach in high-poverty school districts; (b) positive mentoring experiences alone were not as important as we would…

This paper examines the role of certification in alternative agri-food networks (AAFNs), which are "in the process" of building markets for their produce outside conventional supply chains. Drawing upon recent writing on "embeddedness", we argue that certification provides an important focus for exploring the relationship and…

In this article Hong Kong's policy on initial teacher training is used as a case study of the interplay between international trends and local policy. Traditionally initial teacher preparation in most countries has been based in higher education institutions. In recent years alternative routes for initial teacher education have proliferated in the…