A new pilot study from the National Council on Teacher Quality argues that alternative-certification programs for preparing teachers suffer from many of the same problems that the organization has identified in traditional, university-based programs.
The advocacy group’s second annual review of teacher-preparation programs, released last month, finds that, for the most part, the 85 alternative programs analyzed weren’t sufficiently selective, didn’t ensure that applicants knew their content, and did far too little to supervise the new teachers in the classroom.
The group focused on alternative-certification programs that operate outside of higher education institutions, since they are the most likely to look different from traditional programming. It looked at programs preparing teachers in secondary content areas.
Three-quarters of the programs, the NCTQ said, failed to ensure that candidates had enough content knowledge through a transcript review or a testing requirement; another 73 didn’t supervise candidates enough; and just 3 percent required entering candidates to have a 3.0 GPA or higher. Only one program, Teach For America Massachusetts, got an A grade.
