Alternative teacher certification: Secondary school principals' perspective in Indiana

Abstract

As teacher recruitment intensifies to locate qualified teachers for our nation's classrooms, alternative teacher certification programs are becoming prevalent. Initially these programs were designed to attract professionals and college graduates to enter urban classrooms. However, what has occurred is that over 140 alternative certification programs are available to teacher candidates. Some of these programs are well designed with education courses and content area methodology along with pre-service teaching internships while others may not provide the opportunities for new teachers to be successful in their first years of teaching. This study investigated the perceptions of secondary school principals regarding the effectiveness of traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs.