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Back to Teaching Quality main page. We've all heard the adage, "Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach teachers." While this aphorism is an unfair generalization of teacher education programs, many educators and policymakers believe the programs currently in place do not adequately prepare participants to become effective educators. Many have sought to strengthen and transform teacher education programs, while others have advocated the creation of alternatives to traditional teacher preparation that are more focused on "real-world" experience and better serve the needs of the growing population of nontraditional teacher candidates.
Primarily out of a desire to strengthen the field experience component of teacher preparation, many states and individual teacher education programs are building solid partnerships between universities and districts or individual schools. Such partnerships sometimes include the establishment of "professional development schools," in which a well-trained K-12 faculty and university faculty collaborate to model teacher preparation after the clinical training that medical students receive in a teaching hospital. On the state level, there is a growing trend toward P-16 (or K-16) partnerships, which are formal or informal working arrangements between a state's K-12 education agency and postsecondary agencies. Such partnerships promote coordination of academic standards and course requirements and ensure the postsecondary education and training teachers receive adequately prepares them to meet K-12 students' learning needs, including proficiency on the state's K-12 student standards. Alternative Routes to Teacher Preparation In addition to undertaking reforms of traditional teacher education programs, most states now support alternative teacher preparation programs. The need for teachers to fill vacancies in hard-to-staff schools is often the catalyst for creation of such programs. Alternative route programs generally enroll teacher candidates who already possess a bachelor's degree and a major in an appropriate subject field and are in need only of pedagogical training to satisfy the requirements for teacher certification or licensure. Alternative programs generally involve a short-term initial preparation, after which participants may accept regular full-time teaching positions. Once participants have entered the profession, high-quality alternative programs support them with induction and mentoring, as well as collateral coursework during their first year or two of teaching. There is, however, significant controversy surrounding alternative programs. Critics contend that in those states in which alternative candidates are not required to pass the standard requirements for certification or licensure, alternatively certified teachers are substandard. In most states, however, alternative route candidates still must pass the same requirements for licensure and certification as traditionally prepared teachers; only the route, not the license, is different. Still, critics of alternative preparation contend that alternative programs are inadequate, arguing that alternatively prepared candidates are put in the classroom too quickly and are more likely than traditionally prepared teachers to leave their assignments or the profession after a brief period of time. Because alternative route programs are often designed to help hard-to-staff schools, new alternatively prepared teachers frequently are assigned classrooms that would challenge the most accomplished teachers, thus setting new teachers up for frustration and failure. Nevertheless, some studies indicate that, given the same working conditions, well-prepared alternative route teachers are just as effective and dedicated as traditionally prepared teachers. The problem is that, just like traditional teacher preparation programs, not all alternative routes are equal in quality. Key Policy Issues and Questions
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