Education Week 10/6/2010 issue

Appeals Court Curbs U.S. Rule on Alternative Certification, p. 6

There has been an ongoing debate over traditional vs. alternative paths to teaching.  On the one hand, Teach for America, New Teacher Project , and other groups have supported alternative routes to certification and have conditionally certified teachers so that they can begin teaching before they’ve completed their programs.

On the other hand, proponents of the traditional path to teacher certification through colleges of education have argued against making exceptions for alternate-route teachers, since the No Child Left Behind requires teachers to have full state licensure.  They point to the varying quality of the alternative routes to certification and their lack of mentoring and support.

One more wrinkle in the debate came from a group of California activists who argued that a disproportionate number of teachers with “intern” status were teaching in minority and low-income schools in California.

A federal appeals court last week reversed itself and struck down its previous ruling that had allowed teachers making “satisfactory progress”  toward alternative certification to be considered “highly qualified” under the No Child Left Behind guidelines.  The dissenting judge in the 2-1 decision, a supporter of the Teach for America position, pointed out that the experienced, “highly qualified” teachers often find positions in suburban schools, leaving interns to fill positions in poor and minority classrooms.