The Alternative Teacher Preparation Program

The alternative route was established to address the shortage of teachers in certain subject areas and geographic areas by authorizing programs that would enable qualified candidates to begin teaching more quickly, while maintaining the quality of their preparation. The alternative route program must meet all of the teacher education standards adopted by the Board of Regents in 1999.

The alternative route was established to address the shortage of teachers in certain subject areas and geographic areas by authorizing programs that would enable qualified candidates to begin teaching more quickly, while maintaining the quality of their preparation. The alternative route program must meet all of the teacher education standards adopted by the Board of Regents in 1999.

Transitional B or Transitional C.

For the Alternative Transitional B program, regulations require at least 40 clock hours of field experiences in the introductory component. Although the program does not require any student-teaching before candidates become the teachers of record, after candidates become the teachers of record, the program requires candidates who are teaching with a transitional B certificate to receive mentoring and supervision during the entire period that they are both teaching and enrolled in the program, including at least one school year.

The Alternative Transitional C program does not require any field experiences or student teaching before candidates become the teachers of record. However, the program requires that candidates complete two school years of mentored teaching with a transitional C certificate under the supervision of a faculty member of the program.

For the transitional B alternative program, the program shall require candidates to hold a baccalaureate or graduate degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education or from an institution authorized by the Board of Regents to confer degrees. Candidates shall have achieved a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, or its equivalent, in the program leading to the baccalaureate or graduate degree, or shall have been found by an officer designated by the registered alternative teacher certification program to have the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully complete the program, which finding shall be in writing and include the basis for that finding.

Candidates for a certificate in the classroom teaching service shall have completed an undergraduate or graduate major in the subject of the certificate sought, or an undergraduate or graduate major in a related field approved by the department for this purpose at the time of program registration.

The transitional C program requires an appropriate graduate academic or graduate professional degree.