Over the past 20 years, alternative certification for teachers has emerged as a major avenue of teacher preparation. The proliferation of new pathways has spurred heated debate over how best to recruit, prepare, and support qualified teachers. Alternative Routes to Teaching provides a thorough and dispassionate review of the research evidence on alternative certification. It takes readers beyond the simple dichotomies that have characterized the debate over alternative certification, encourages them to look carefully at the trade-offs implicit in any route into teaching, and suggests ways to “marry” the proven strengths of both traditional and alternative approaches.

Criticisms of teacher education, the low economic and political costs of trying to reform schools by reforming teacher education, along with the difficulty of filling some teaching positions with persons certified in traditional ways, have fueled a movement to create alternative routes to teacher certification in the vast majority of states. This monograph seeks to inform the ongoing policy debate over when and for what purposes alternative certification of teachers should be employed and to develop lessons that might lead to increasing the effectiveness of both alternative certification and traditional programs of teacher preparation. Following an introduction, the publication consists of six articles: (1) "The Theory and Practice of Alternative Certification: Implications for the Improvement of Teaching" (Willis D. Hawley); (2) "Alternative Certification in Connecticut: Reshaping the Profession" (Traci Bliss); (3) "Alternative Certification: State Policies in the SREB (Southern Regional Education Board) States" (Lynn M. Cornett); (4) "Los Angeles Unified School District Intern Program: Recruiting and Preparing Teachers for an Urban Context" (Trish Stoddart); (5) "Teaching and Knowledge: Policy Issues Posed by Alternate Certification for Teachers" (Linda Darling-Hammond); and (6) "The Place of Alternative Certification in the Education of Teachers" (Gary D. Fenstermacher). Selected references for each chapter are included. (LL)

In this compelling and timely collection, Eric Wearne and a group of diverse contributors make the case for a new approach to teacher preparation and certification, in which institutions are empowered to educate, prepare, certify, hire, and develop teachers who have been prepared by different educational traditions. In the first part, contributors offer a background in history, policy, and economics to argue the need for more creativity in teacher preparation. In the second part, Wearne and contributors showcase how a variety of different, creative educational organizations have prepared teachers more clearly suited to their specific school models— from Montessori teacher preparation, to teaching online, to teaching in classical schools. Overall, this collection prompts those involved in teacher preparation to work to find creative solutions for improving teacher education, certification, and hiring and is relevant for scholars, policymakers, educators, and administrators working in or studying teacher education programs.