Increasing numbers of special education teachers enter the profession via widely varying preparation programs, also known as alternative certification programs. This article describes a survey of 54 novice special education teachers from alternative certification (AC) programs. In this paper, the authors discuss both challenges and support needs…

Policies for principal preparation and licensure are important levers for improving school leadership. By developing a rubric of research-based practices, this University Council of Educational Administration study aims to provide a formative tool for policy makers. Using a policy analysis frame by Roach et al., this study explores the state code,…

During the late 1990s and 2000s, the State of Florida enacted a set of education reforms spearheaded by Governor Jeb Bush. These policies, which emphasize test-based accountability, competition, and choice, have since become known as the "Florida Formula for education success," or, simply, the "Florida Formula." In recent…

Urban school districts continue to hire teachers who have received their certification through nontraditional routes. For these nontraditionally certified teachers (NCTs), there is growing evidence that improved staff development and administrative support can positively improve NCTs' retention and enhance students' learning. Because the attrition…

For leaders of schools in the 21st century, it seems there is a never-ending demand on what they need to be doing. Just when they thought they had a handle on traditional testing and ways to improve student achievement, along comes the Common Core Standards, which change the game in many ways. The Common Core will require students to have an…

Randomized trials are a common way to provide rigorous evidence on the impacts of education programs. This article discusses the trade-offs associated with study designs that involve random assignment of students within schools and describes the experience from one such study of Teach for America (TFA). The TFA experiment faced challenges with…

Immigrants are a vital part of America and help form the backbone of the economy and communities. Too often, however, immigrants are not given the same educational opportunities or necessary attention as their native-born peers in high school, leading to lower high school graduation rates and postsecondary attainment. Immigrant students face added…

Prompted by the emergence of alternative pathways to teacher certification as well as federal, state, and local policy directives aimed at raising student achievement, this study explores the extent to which prospective teachers' reasons to teach have or have not changed since before the enactment of such changes in public schools. In addition,…

This article explores some of the challenges faced by Teach First teachers during their first year of teaching in a culturally diverse school, and describes some of the strategies they employ to overcome them. Using a variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative data are collected, focusing on the perspectives of the teachers over the…

Special education teacher attrition rates continue to challenge the profession. A cognitive-behavioral problem-solving approach was used to examine three alternative certification program special education teachers' professional development through a series of 41 interviews conducted over a 2-year period. Beginning when they were novice special…

As the shortage of special education teachers has led to increasing numbers of teacher candidates enrolled in alternative certification programs, there is a need to provide systematic mentoring and coaching. The relationship between support providers and novice teachers enrolled in an alternative certification program in a diverse, urban…

Professional development opportunities are too limited for faculty who are learning to teach online. Preparation is typically provided in the form of technology training, with little focus on the pedagogy of teaching over the web. In addition, most professional development programs offer their workshops on campus instead of providing an…

This qualitative multiple case study focused on National Board Certified teachers from Generation X who have left the classroom. The study explored aspects of the teaching profession, the National Board Certification process, and Generation X as potential influences for National Board Certified teachers from Generation X to leave the classroom.…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to measure the effectiveness of alternative certification teachers versus traditionally trained teachers of 9th grade Hispanic students enrolled in Algebra I. The dependent variable, teacher effectiveness, will be measured by the students' raw score on the Texas Algebra I End Of Course (EOC) Assessment.…

Quantitative analysis was used to investigate relationships between sense of class community and perceived learning among alternative licensure candidates (N = 58) based on their scores from two separate standardized instruments measuring the constructs. Study results provide evidence that relationships do indeed exist and that differences between…