Opening a Closed System... Alternatives

As I venture through my graduate work, I am finding many of my past paradigms are being challenged.  One of the most interesting changes in my thoughts have been on how people can enter the teaching profession.  If you had asked me about two years ago, I would have told you that only people go through an accredited four year training program are truly effective educators.  I stood staunchly against lateral entry programs and other alternative programs like Teach for America.  Now, having worked with people who have been certified through alternative tracks and seeing how they are incredibly effective educators, I have had a complete paradigm shift.

Rep. John Faircloth

Back in February, the Guilford County Association of Educators hosted a Legislative Breakfast for state and local politicians.  I spoke at length with Representative Faircloth about teacher certification programs.  He referred to the teacher certification program as a formally closed system.  After he retired from his businesses, he wanted to go into the teaching profession as a Career and Technical educator, but he could not get a position due to the fact he was not certified through a four year institution.  Finally, he was able to acquire a position at UNCG teaching in the Bryan School of Business.  While at Bryan, he worked as an instructor and with students working towards their undergrad and graduate degrees in business.  Rep. Faircloth was a successful businessperson in the private sector and it would have been interesting to see how he would have imparted his experience to students at the high school level.  The only issue was that at the time he wanted to enter K-12 public education, there was not an alternative route.

Enter North Carolina Senate Bill 1115.  This bill required universities, school systems and community colleges to develop alternative licensure programs.  One could deduce that SB 1115 opened. the doors for programs such as Teach for America, an alternative licensure program that was born of the floor of an apartment and has had a positive impact on rural and urban hard to staff schools across America.  After the passage of SB 1115, persons from the private and public sector could enter public education by going through these alternative licensure programs.  Initially resistant, I began to see teachers who possessed untraditional and innovative methods.  They became leaders in the school using their unique experiences to innovate and seek out interesting opportunities for the students and schools.

Therefore, after much internal reflection and public debate at a national level on the floor of the NEA-RA, I have concluded that through support and mentoring lateral entry teachers can and are just, and even more effective, at times than their traditionally certified counterparts.  I am not saying that the traditional process be shoved under the carpet by any means, but I am asking what is the traditional method lacking at present?  Especially with the large focus of education moving towards a STEM model, how does the traditional model best prepare future educators to work in an inquiry-based environment?  I will say that one of the original alternative licensure programs located in Guilford County continues to produce highly effective lateral entry educators, perhaps if traditional institutions would look into the methods employed by GCS-ACT and Teach for America the persons playing the political game with education would consider it to be opening to unending possibilities of change?