A Case Study of a Competency-Driven Alternative Route to Teacher Licensure in an Urban “Hard to Staff” School System

Nationwide, the increased interest in teacher quality has been “the” topic of debate for educational policymakers, leading to a research focus on teacher certification. With the proliferation of alternative routes to teacher licensure, there is growing controversy surrounding the manner in which teachers are trained to obtain the level of quality required by state mandates and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) guidelines. A continuing debate addresses an essential question: Which teacher preparation programs best prepare future educators for the challenges of instructing students in their core subject classes—those grounded in the conceptual framework of traditional college teacher preparation and/or those guided by the premises of alternative teacher preparation programs? In response, an alternative-route-to-teacher-licensure program, a particular Transition to Teaching partnership, was reviewed. A descriptive portrayal, this report unfolds in five sections: First, scholarship that has previously addressed and assessed teacher preparation work through alternative routes to teacher licensure in K-12 settings; second, a description of the Newport News Public Schools and Old Dominion University partnership; third, the case study method; fourth, programmatic features that depict a competency-driven program for newly hired teachers on an alternative route to teacher licensure; and last, assertions that predict both the viability and sustainability of alternate routes to teacher licensure nurtured within urban school-university partnerships.