The Effect of Alternative Certification on Student Achievement: A Literature Review

In the past two decades, the number of states offering alternative certification routes for teachers increased from a handful to 45. Some estimates suggest that a third of any given year's newly hired teachers come through these routes. However, teacher training programs vary widely in their design and implementation, and there is no consensus on the best way to prepare beginning teachers. This review examines the existing research literature to determine whether there is any evidence on the effectiveness of different types of alternative certification programs, concluding that the literature is extremely limited in quantity and quality.