Emergency certified teachers’ motivations for entering the teaching profession: Evidence from Oklahoma

The use of emergency certification to fill teaching vacancies has increased in many school districts across the United States. Prior research suggests that teachers’ underlying motivations for entering the profession are associated with student outcomes, but very little is known about the motivations of emergency certified teachers who enter the profession in a less systematic fashion than traditionally certified teachers. To understand emergency certified teachers’ rationales for entering teaching, we interviewed 30 emergency certified teachers in Oklahoma where emergency certification has risen sharply. Findings indicate that emergency certified teachers articulate intrinsic motivations for entering the profession that are similar to those commonly identified by traditionally certified teachers. However, emergency certified teachers also report motivations that seemed to be markedly different, such as using teaching as a contingency employment option or wanting to test out the profession before committing to it. This study raises important policy questions about the use of emergency certification as a strategy for filling teaching vacancies.

Traditional Versus Alternative Pathways to Certification: Assessing Differences in Music Teacher Self-Efficacy

Teacher-credentialing policy debates often center on questions of whether traditional or alternative pathways to teacher certification better position future teachers for success. Given the growing number of teachers entering the profession via alternative pathways, we sought to compare the self-efficacy of alternatively and traditionally certified music teachers using a sample from Texas ( n = 143). Our findings indicated that traditionally and alternatively certified music teachers reported comparable levels of self-efficacy. We also found that, regardless of certification pathway, teachers with 10 or fewer years of experience reported lower self-efficacy than teachers with 11 or more years of experience. We conclude that alternative pathways to certification may offer a viable entry point into the profession and may be particularly advantageous in diversifying the teacher pool and addressing areas of music teacher shortages. We also offer recommendations for cultivating high self-efficacy in preservice teachers, irrespective of certification pathway, as well as avenues for future study of the alternative pathway.

Portrait of a Teach for All (TFA) teacher: Media narratives of the universal TFA teacher in 12 countries

This article employs narrative analysis to examine how the media in 12 different countries characterize the Teach for All (TFA) teacher. Examining mass media narratives in these 12 countries illustrates that there are some remarkable commonalities in the narratives and character portraits co-constructed and propagated by the media. At the core of these narratives is the notion of a problem in education. This problem justifies the creation and emergence of a character, commonly constructed in opposition to traditionally certified teachers, who embodies the characteristics and attributes of the contemporary neoliberal subject. This article discusses the implications of this character’s widespread representation; namely, how does the character construction influence the broader public perception about education and how is it contributing to the (re)imagination of the role of the teacher?

Preparing High-Quality Teachers: Views From the Classroom

Every child has the right to a highly qualified teacher, yet as a nation we are reluctant to empirically investigate how teacher preparation programs are succeeding. Results from the present study suggested that (a) traditionally certified (TC) teachers felt better prepared than non–traditionally certified (NTC) teachers on communicating, planning, and using instructional strategies; (b) NTC teachers’ positive mentoring and prior classroom experiences in conjunction with the overall less positive mentoring experiences of TC teachers may have minimized differences; (c) novice teachers did not feel prepared on items related to multicultural curriculum or assessing student learning; and (d) prior classroom experiences, first year support, and program components were important, but instruction on teaching standards was of particular importance for NTC teachers.

Qualifications and Assignments of Alternatively Certified Teachers: Testing Core Assumptions

By analyzing data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, the authors empirically test four of the core assumptions embedded in current arguments for expanding alternative teacher certification (AC): AC attracts experienced candidates from fields outside of education; AC attracts top-quality, well-trained teachers; AC disproportionately trains teachers to teach in hard-to-staff schools; and AC alleviates out-of-field teaching. Although there are some differences in the backgrounds of alternatively and traditionally certified teachers, the findings suggest that AC programs have not substantially changed the pool from which new teachers are drawn. Findings further indicate that AC programs do not attract a disproportionate number of candidates to teach in difficult-to-staff schools, nor are they effective means for solving the problem of out-of-field teaching.

Has the Alternative Certification Policy Materialized Its Promise? A Comparison Between Traditionally and Alternatively Certified Teachers in Public Schools

The study compared the characteristics of traditionally certified (TC) and alternatively certified (AC) teachers by analyzing data from a nationally representative sample of public school teachers ( N = 14,721). The sample was constructed from the Schools and Staffing Survey 1993–1994, a national survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The findings supported some of the arguments for AC, such as alleviating teacher shortages in mathematics and science and in urban schools and diversifying the teaching force by recruiting more people of minorities into teaching. However, the findings also raised serious concerns regarding the impact of AC policy: (a) AC teachers appeared to have lower academic qualifications than did TC teachers; (b) AC policy failed to recruit a significant number of experienced personnel from other occupations, and a large number of fresh college graduates took advantage of AC policy to circumvent the traditional teacher education program; (c) A lower percentage of AC teachers treated teaching as a lifelong career than did TC teachers; and (d) A high percentage of AC teachers working in inner-city schools raised the important issue of educational equity.

Alternative Teacher Certification: Its Policy Implications for Classroom and Personnel Practice

Alternative certification (AC) of teachers is an issue of interest and discussion within the 1980s education reform movement. Little empirical evaluation is available for formulating policy, however. This research describes an alternative certification program in the Dallas Independent School District. Recruitment programs resulted in 4,000 inquiries and over 1,300 applicants, 691 of whom took the entrance test, 557 who passed, and 110 who were admitted to the program. This research addresses eight topics: (a) characteristics of the program, (b) characteristics of the interns, (c) intern attitudes, (d) comparison of interns and traditionally certified teachers, (e) teaching performance of interns, (f) predictors of AC success, (g) reaction to the program, and (h) consideration of whether AC programs can contribute to the need for teachers. Policy recommendations, based on the above, are formulated.