Teacher shortages in the United States have resulted in the development of alternate route teaching programs to better provide teachers, especially in difficult to staff schools such as those in rural communities. In order to address rural teacher shortages, the Mississippi State University College of Education implemented a fully online,…

There is a teacher shortage throughout the US that has reached critical capacity in rural areas. To exacerbate this, new teachers often face difficulties their first year teaching, causing them to leave the profession. One means to combat this growing shortage is to recruit alternatively certified teachers. This study examined the lived…

In order to assist in alleviating the teaching shortage in poor, rural school districts, also known as Local Education Agencies (LEA's), faculty in the College of Education at Mississippi State University sought funding that would provide financial support for a new alternate route teaching program. This program, known as Learning and Educating…

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,…

The teacher shortage throughout the United States, especially in areas considered "at-risk," has reached an alarming level. Novice teachers often decide not to return after one year of service, with the number of teachers not returning doubling at five years. One possible means of overcoming these two problems is alternative…

Alternative programs in special education are often developed in response to chronic personnel shortages. At issue, however, is the quality of alternative programs and their graduates. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a large special education alternative certification program that adheres to both professional…

This research evaluated South Carolina's Program of Alternative Certification for Educators (PACE). Specifically, the study analyzed this nontraditional teacher preparation pathway's outcomes: to recruit, train, and retain effective beginning teachers who fill the growing teacher vacancies in rural South Carolina. From an in-depth review of the…

In light of shortages of mathematics and science teachers, alternative certification was introduced in the mid-1980s. This study examined the effect of alternative certification among math and science teachers who moved to a different school or left the profession. This was accomplished using the national "SASS" and "TFS"…