The debate over how to prepare a new generation of teachers has reached a fever pitch in education and policy communities. This policy brief takes the viewpoint that quality alternative certification programs (ACPs) offer ways to develop a broader pool of prospective teachers while helping states address concerns about teacher development, professionalism, and retention. These programs are considered as alternative methods to enhance traditional teacher certification because they address many of the elements of a comprehensive teacher development cycle, such as teacher standards, the teaching pipeline, teacher education, beginning teacher licensure, teacher induction programs, full teacher licensure, and ongoing professional development. State boards of education must ensure that standards for alternative programs are the same as those for traditional licensure, establish guidelines for approving ACPs that require key components of a quality program, ensure that ACPs are adequately funded, take the lead in defusing the political rhetoric around ACPs to focus on their utility, direct state departments of education to track the characteristics of ACP graduates and their willingness to stay in the profession beyond 5 years, and use elements of quality ACPs as a template for a comprehensive system of teacher development. An appendix contains ACP contact information. (Contains 45 references.) (RT)