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Alternate Route Preparation: New Jersey

Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy

Look at National Findings
Goal

The state should ensure that its alternate routes provide streamlined preparation that is relevant to the immediate needs of new teachers.

Meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Alternate Route Preparation: New Jersey results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/NJ-Alternate-Route-Preparation-7

Analysis of New Jersey's policies

New Jersey offers its alternate route candidates streamlined preparation that meets the immediate needs of new teachers.

New Jersey's Provisional Teacher Program requires 200 hours of formal instruction in professional education aligned with the Professional Standards for Teachers. Elementary candidates must complete a minimum of 290 hours of formal instruction. New Jersey requires instruction to be focused on six areas: subject matter, human growth and development, diverse learners, instructional planning, assessment and professional development. 

New Jersey is commended for both the length of its alternate route program and its coursework requirements, which offer the flexibility and content that new teachers need to succeed in the classroom, without being overly burdensome.

On-going mentoring of the provisional teacher is provided over a period of 34 weeks or proportionally longer if the provisional teacher holds a part-time teaching position. Mentoring consists of four weeks of intensive observation and coaching at the beginning of the program. New Jersey is commended for its mentoring program.

Provisional teachers can successfully complete their program within one year and then be recommended for standard licensure.

Citation

Recommendations for New Jersey

State response to our analysis

New Jersey was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis. New Jersey reiterated that the mentoring program is 34 weeks for alternate route teachers, whereas traditionally trained teachers receive only 30 weeks. Further, the state asserted that although the mentor is not required by regulation to be certified in the same subject/grade level area as the novice teacher, guidance and technical assistance to districts emphasizes this preference.

    • Best practice
    • Meets goal
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  • New Jersey

    New Jersey map
Alternate Route Usage and Providers
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Research rationale

For a general, quantitative review of the research supporting the need for states to offer an alternate route license, and why alternate routes should not be treated as programs of "last resort," one need simply to look at the numbers of uncertified and out of field teachers in classrooms today, readily available from the National Center for Education Statistics. In addition, with U.S. schools facing the need to hire more than 3.5 million new teachers each year, the need for alternate routes to certification cannot be underestimated. See also Ducharme, E. R. & Ducharme, M. K. (1998). "Quantity and quality: Not enough to go around." Journal of Teacher Education, 49(3), 163-164.

Further, scientific and market research demonstrates that there is a willing and able pool of candidates for alternate certification programs—and many of these individuals are highly educated and intelligent. In fact, the nationally respected polling firm, The Tarrance Group, recently conducted a scientific poll in the State of Florida, identifying that more than 20 percent of Floridians would consider changing careers to become teachers through alternate routes to certification.

We base our argument that alternative-route teachers should be able to earn full licensure after two years on research indicating that teacher effectiveness does not improve dramatically after the third year of teaching. One study (frequently cited on both sides of the alternate route debate) identified that after three years, traditional and alternatively-certified teachers demonstrate the same level of effectiveness, see Miller, J. W., McKenna, M. C., & McKenna, B. A. (1998). Nontraditional teacher preparation: A comparison of alternatively and traditionally prepared teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 49(3), 165-176. This finding is supported by D. Boyd,  D. Goldhaber,  H. Lankford, and J. Wyckoff, "The Effect of Certification and Preparation on Teacher Quality." The Future of Children (2007): 45-68. 

Project MUSE (http://muse.jhu.edu/), found that student achievement was similar for alternatively-certified teachers as long as the program they came from was "highly selective."

The need for a cap on education coursework and the need for intensive mentoring are also backed by research, as well as common sense. In 2004, Education Commission of the States reviewed more than 150 empirical studies and determined that there is evidence "for the claim that assistance for new teachers, and, in particular, mentoring [have] a positive impact on teachers and their retention." The 2006 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher validates these conclusions. In addition, Mathematica (2009) found that student achievement suffers when alternate route teachers are required to take excessive amounts of coursework. See An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification at: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/education/teacherstrained09.pdf

See also Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative (NCTQ, 2007) at: http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/Alternative_Certification_Isnt_Alternative_20071124023109.pdf.

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