Real Alternative Certification

There is a great report on alternative teacher certification from the Center for American Progress. They get many things right in this article and are pushing lawmakers/decision-makres to think outside the university in order to get the numbers of teachers we need in this country.
They state that the critical element in solving the shortage is measuring competencies rather than credentials to determine who gets into the classroom as long as it is followed by strong support once people are in the classroom. They also outline the increasing evidence that alternative certification is delivering teachers that are just as good as teachers from other routes.
The groups that focus on competencies will be those that survive in the teacher preparation and certification arena. This is true because it helps reduce costs, improve efficiencies and attract generation x, y and millenials. Forcing those groups into credentials based on hours logged in course work will never be effective in solving the teaching shortage.

The full report is here: