Educational Opportunity and Alternative Certification: New Evidence and New Questions

Recent findings from a Mathematica study comparing the performance of teachers prepared via alternative and traditional routes have been interpreted to suggest that policymakers and practitioners should expand the use of fast-entry alternative routes and seek teachers trained through such programs, as they presumably perform as well in the classroom as any other teacher trained through traditional schools of education anywhere in the country. A SCOPE policy brief reviews the study and shares research from a number of other studies that point to the types of teacher preparation that produce positive outcomes for student learning.