Getting Talent into the Classroom

Lindsey Burke / October 16, 2009

One of the most effective ways to get good teachers into the classroom is to provide people with an alternative path toward teacher certification. States that are producing some of the biggest gains in student learning, such as Florida, have embraced the practice. What’s more, alternative teacher certification is garnering bi-partisan support as a measure that will propel meaningful education reform. The New York Times has even begun to champion the practice, profiling one of the most successful organizations in the teacher certification business:

…the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence offers an online program that costs $975 and has so far issued 1,900 certifications. They are accepted by nine states, including Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania. The board says people 50 and older account for one-fifth of its participants.

Among them is Ron Halverson, 52, who worked for two decades at Hewlett-Packard in engineering and finance. After taking early retirement two years ago, he became certified and is in his second year of teaching special education at Borah High School in Boise, Idaho. Pursuing a traditional teaching degree would have been too long and costly, he said. (more…)