Teaching and knowledge: Policy issues posed by alternate certification for teachers

Over the past several years, alternate routes to teacher certification have been enacted, though not always implemented, in most states across the country. Upon his election, President Bush's only education proposal was the encouragement of this kind of state-level strategy for more flexible teacher recruitment. He retains a similar proposal in his more recently proposed America 2000 portfolio of education reforms. Given this continuing policy interest and several years of experience in some states, it seems an appropriate time to review the status of this policy idea in light of knowledge about teaching and teacher effectiveness, and to assess the outcomes of alternative certification programs for teacher supply and quality. Generally, in matters of social policy, one wants to understand the nature of the social problem being addressed and then to examine the appropriateness of the proposed solution, preferably in comparison with other alternative solutions. This has been difficult in the field of