From Foresight, Vol. 7, No. 2
published 2000
Because teacher shortages are predicted, alternative routes to certification now offered by the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) may become increasingly important. One possible route is based on exceptional work experience. The EPSB approved the first application for this alternative route to certification in July 1998 and has since approved another 21 applications.
Approved applicants are issued a provisional certificate upon satisfactory completion of the Kentucky Teacher Internship Program. They are required to have:
10 years of exceptional work experience in the area for which certification is sought
a bachelor’s degree with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale
an offer of employment at the secondary level (grades 9-12) in a school district
an application for certification, submitted jointly to the EPSB by the applicant and the hiring school district.
A recent EPSB review of this route to certification, including interviews with the 22 teachers approved and their supervisors, found that 13 or 59 percent are men, who are usually outnumbered three to one in the field. On average, these newly certified teachers are 45 years old, and have an undergraduate GPA of 3.0. The majority, 16 of the 22, hold a master’s degree or higher; one has a doctorate.
Ten (45 percent) of the applicants were granted certificates to teach in the math and science areas (physical science, math, and biology), subject areas that often pose recruiting difficulties, and four (18 percent) to teach business. The remaining certificates included two in industrial technology, and one each in communicative disorders, music, art, social studies, English, and Spanish. In most cases, these teachers were the only applicants for the position available.
As part of all alternative routes to certification, approved applicants are granted a one-year provisional certificate that allows them to teach while they complete their internship. Administrators typically saw these as appropriate, valuable, and successful experiences. When asked if they were satisfied with the teachers who had come through the exceptional work experience route, responses included:
He is one of the best teachers in the school.
He is the best of the three teachers we hired last year . . . the other two came through a traditional program.
Doing a great job . . . she fills a very specific position we would never have found through a traditional program.
Has made tremendous progress . . . we were desperate for a physics teacher and this is working out great for us.
He was our only candidate for the position . . . had a little trouble with classroom management at first but has done a great job learning how to use discipline.
Send me more like her.
Administrators typically observed that the maturity and the deeper level of knowledge application these teachers brought to the classroom was key to their success. One administrator observed, “His life experiences set him apart.”
Identified weaknesses of these alternatively certified teachers were primarily in the areas of classroom management skills and pedagogy. However, most administrators reported that these interns were very receptive to supervision, particularly in comparison to traditionally trained teachers, and typically “self-corrected” pedagogical shortcomings while effectively communicating content.
Administrators were also asked to compare these alternatively certified teachers with traditionally trained first-year teachers. Among those surveyed, 60 percent said they felt students related better to the exceptional work experience teacher than to the traditional first-year teacher; the remaining saw no difference. Administrators who noted a difference attributed it to maturity and to experiences as parents and members of the community—something traditionally prepared, usually much younger teachers, typically do not have.
Finally, a large majority of administrators (90 percent) indicated that they felt the students were benefiting more from the teacher with exceptional work experience than from a typical first-year teacher, and the remaining 10 percent said the benefits were no different. Again, most administrators said the “real world” experiences of these alternatively certified teachers allowed them to make deeper and more varied applications of the curriculum, giving students hands-on experiences that typical first-year teachers could not provide.
Surveyed administrators said they planned to retain the exceptional work experience teachers, and most indicated that they would consider hiring others who had come to teaching by this route. They all stressed, however, that hiring decisions were made on a case-by-case basis, with more traditionally trained teachers usually receiving first consideration for a position. However, almost all of the administrators expressed appreciation for the exceptional work experience option that districts may use in filling hard-to-fill positions.
Of the 22 teachers who received their certification through the exceptional work alternative route, 20 (91 percent) are still working in the districts that originally hired them. The two who are no longer teaching in Kentucky moved out of the community, but both were given high praise by their administrators.
Though only 15 (9 percent) of Kentucky’s 176 school districts have employed teachers who gained certification through the exceptional work experience route, 4 of these districts have chosen to use others: Jefferson County (5 teachers), Hardin County (3 teachers), Elizabethtown Independent (2 teachers), and Kenton County (2 teachers).
The exceptional work experience route to alternative certification appears to be working as intended, giving school districts access to a pool of content-knowledgeable candidates who want to teach, an option that may become increasingly important as a wave of veteran teachers retires.#
Dr. Rogers is a Research Consultant with the Kentucky Education Professional Standards board. He can be reached at: psrogers@kde.state.ky.us. Return to text.