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Alternate Route Preparation: Illinois

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 a small part of goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Alternate Route Preparation: Illinois results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/IL-Alternate-Route-Preparation-7

Analysis of Illinois's policies

Illinois does not ensure that its alternate route candidates will receive streamlined preparation that meets the immediate needs of new teachers.

Illinois requires candidates for Alternate Teacher Certification and Alternative Route to Teacher Certification to complete a course of study in education theory and instructional methods, but the state does not specify the amount of coursework required. Teachers in the Resident Teacher Certification program must complete a six-week intensive teacher preparation course the summer prior to entering the classroom and then work toward a master's degree while teaching.

Alternate Teacher Certification candidates have the opportunity for practice teaching, although the state does not provide guidance on this requirement. Candidates in the Alternative Route to Teacher Certification and the Resident Teacher Certification routes are mentored by a certified teacher assigned by the school district for the first year. 

The state requires that alternate route programs require less time to complete than traditional programs. The current range for program completion is one and a half to two and a half years. However, teachers may apply for the Standard Teaching Certificate only after completing four years of teaching. 

Citation

Recommendations for Illinois

Establish coursework guidelines for alternate route preparation programs
Simply mandating coursework without specifying the purpose can inadvertently send the wrong message to program providers—that "anything goes" as long as credits are granted. However constructive, any course that is not fundamentally practical and immediately necessary should be eliminated as a requirement. 

Extend induction to all alternate route teachers.
While Illinois is commended for requiring Alternative Route to Teacher Certification and the Resident Teacher Certification teachers to work with a mentor, Alternate Teacher Certification teachers should also receive this support. In addition, the state should consider providing sufficient guidelines to ensure that the induction program is structured for new teacher success. Effective strategies include practice teaching prior to teaching in the classroom, intensive mentoring with full classroom support in the first few weeks or months of school, a reduced teaching load and release time to allow new teachers to observe experienced teachers during each school day. 

Grant standard certification in less than four years.
Although Illinois policy states that alternate route programs should be more streamlined than traditional preparation programs, the state should consider shortening the length of time it takes an alternate route teacher to earn standard certification. The route should allow candidates to earn full certification no later than the end of the second year of teaching.  

State response to our analysis

Illinois recognized the factual accuracy of NCTQ's analysis but noted that SB 1799, which provides a two-year alternate route program with much closer mentoring the first year than the second, is pending. The state stated that it agreed with NCTQ that teachers needed more support the first year in the classroom.

Last word

NCTQ looks forward to reviewing the state's progress in future editions of the Yearbook.

    • Best practice
    • Meets goal
    • Nearly Meets goal
    • Meets goal in part
    • Meets a small part of goal
    • Does not meet goal

  • Illinois

    Illinois 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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