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Buffalo State PHY 690 - This manuscript

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Engineer to High School Physics Teacher:My Journey through the SUNY-Buffalo State Alternative Certification Program forPhysicsDaniel L. AnkromDepartment of Physics, State University of New York Buffalo State College1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY [email protected]:This manuscript was completed in partial requirement for PHY 690: Masters Project at the State University of New York College at Buffalo Department of Physics under the supervision of Dr. Dan MacIsaac.AbstractThe rise of Alternative Certification brought with it controversy [Feistritzer -2008] that has never completely died [Unger, Nichole - 3/29/07; The Chancellors New Clothes – March 22, 2008], despite these programs becoming more accepted and even being hosted by traditional teacher colleges [MacIsaac, Zawicki, Henry, Beery & Falconer – 2004; Feistritzer - 2008]. Many of the concerns center around several important questions: Can an alternative certification candidate be an effective teacher? [Unger, Nichole - 3/29/07, p. 1] Will enough candidates be recruited through these programs? [Grosso de León, Anne - Spring 2005, p. 1] Will these candidates stay in the field over the long term? [Westchester Institute for Human Services Research - April 2004, pg. 3] My own lived experience in the SUNY-Buffalo State Physics Alternative Certification program [New York State Department of Education – accessed 7-2008; SUNY-Buffalo State College, Physics Teacher Pathways, accessed July 8, 2008] is an example where there is evidence to indicate that Alternative Certification candidates are qualified, and do remain in the field. Success in both of these areas in my personal case, as well as for Alternative Certification candidates in general, seems dependant on 2 main factors:The Alternative Certification program requiring significant content AND pedagogical knowledge of program participants, andThe program requiring and providing an effective mentoring component to participants. [Lederman, Sweeney-Lederman, & El-Khalick – April 13, 2007]The following is a description of my own lived experience in Alternative Certification and suggestions for others with a desire to enter the field through alternative pathways.Brief review of Literature1Feistritzer (2008), discusses the origins of alternative certification in the 1980’s and provides a narrative of it’s development and proliferation throughout the union to the present. She also discusses terminology and definitions, statistics and descriptions for programs on a state by state basis.The Center for Teaching Quality (November 2005), focuses on NC TEACH as a ‘typical’ example of what was found in studying seven different alternative certification programs, and suggests that “NC TEACH recruits are valued by principals.” CTQ statesthat the program brings in needed teachers for the state, and that specifically: 41% enrolled are male, 30% minority, and 21% planned to teach high school math and sciences and 15% plan to teach middle grades math and science. These are all needed teacher demographics. In conclusion, CTQ states that the evidence “strongly suggests that policymakers are ill-advised to believe that alternative certificationprograms are more effective than traditional programs—or vice versa.” [ PG # REF HERE]The Westchester Institute for Human Services Research (April 2008) states that research verifies that alternative certification programs have recruited a more diverse pool of teachers, including a higher percentage of males, minorities, and people over age 30; and that these teachers are more likely to have a broader range of work experience outside education. It also says that these teachers serve where the demandis greatest: in inner cities and outlying rural areas, and in high demand subject areas such as mathematics and science.The US Department of Education published data in it’s Institute of Educational Sciences May 2008 issue brief that of teachers who left the profession, 25.3% of 2science and math teachers left for better salary or benefits, compared to only 12.8% of all other types of teachers [Institute of Educational Sciences – May 2008].Robert Legler [November 2002] writes that a multi-state study found “no statistically significant difference between alternatively certified teachers' reports of their levels of preparation and the levels of preparation reported by other teachers.” This information came from looking at survey results from new teachers across the Midwest. On questions of weather or not teachers had a first year mentor, and how helpful they found the mentor to be, the same conclusion was reached when comparing alternativelycertified candidates to traditionally prepared candidates. A survey of principals revealedthat a larger percentage of alternatively certified teachers they hired were male than the overall percentage of male teachers. A larger number of candidates in their 30’s was reported as well, suggesting that alternative certification does attract a more mature andexperienced set of candidates. The principal survey results also indicated that 74% of respondents rated the performance of their alternatively certified teachers as equal to orabove other new hires (and 26% rated them below). Legler interprets this as indicating that “alternative programs have yet to reach full parity with traditional teacher-preparation programs”. If, however, in nearly three out of four cases the alternatively certified is deemed equal or better to the traditional one, than wouldn’t this indicate that traditional candidates are on par (or better than) traditional candidates? When asked about the issue of teacher shortage, about 70% of responding principals indicated they had had difficulty finding enough qualified teachers, and half of responding principals said that alternatively certified candidates had been “somewhat or very helpful in addressing the shortage”. In contrast to the NC Teach example cited by the Center for 3Teacher Quality, Legler’s data didn’t find that the alternative certification programs studied “had little impact on the diversity of the teaching force in the Midwest. However,Legler also points out several issues which would skew results on this question.New York State Department of Education, legal requirements and description for Transition B Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs can be found at:


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