Learnings from a Longitudinal Study of New Jersey Alternate Route and College-Prepared Elementary, Secondary English, and Secondary Math Teachers

Abstract

Findings from a longitudinal survey, interview, and observational study of an early cohort of New Jersey elementary, secondary English, and secondary math teachers participating in a first-generation state alternate route initiative to address issues of supply, quality, and diversity in the teaching pool are discussed. The article explores emerging themes common to the literature on alternate routes and unique contributions of this study in relation to the recruitment, preparation, placement, and retention of teachers prepared in college-based and alternate route programs. The article ends with implications of what has been learned and still needs to be learned about different approaches in the face of the continued need for highly qualified teachers and in light of the contrasting policy agendas surrounding teacher education. Rather than the “horse-race” mentality that dominated earlier debate of alternate route vs. college-based teacher education programs, a more constructive frame considers the short term and long term trade-offs (e.g., recruitment vs. preparation, recruitment vs. retention) that arose from New Jersey's early implementation of an alternate route program.

Final Choices: Surveying Career Options

“…As one example, teacher preparation programs might profitably work more closely with the schools that hire their graduates, creating leadership opportunities for experienced teachers such as offering courses to practicing teachers to prepare them to serve as cooperating teachers or mentors. Teacher retention is a matter not only of recruitment and preparation but also of the kinds of learning experiences and support that new and experienced teachers have (Zumwalt et al, 2017).…”

“…During this time period, the number of AR teachers in classroom teaching positions increased to six at one point and then dropped back to five after Anita left. As in the first six years (see Randi, 2017), the AR teachers continued to move in and out of classroom teaching more often than the CB teachers, and so the number of AR exemplars in classroom teaching positions fluctuates from year to year (for a summary of retention data, see Zumwalt, Natriello, Randi, Rutter, & Sawyer, 2017).…”

Portraying secondary science teacher retention with the person‐position framework: An analysis of a state cohort of first‐year science teachers

“…However, it was also found that increasing salary may not be sufficient to retain teachers, if other policies and conditions also produce dissatisfaction (Ingersoll, 2003). Both traditional and alternate route teachers in the long-term cohort study by Zumwalt et al (2017) most frequently cited "substantial salary increases" as an incentive for retention. Ingersoll and May (2012) noted that science teachers in particular were most likely to state that their decision to leave teaching was heavily influenced by the maximum potential salary they could earn in their districts and hypothesized that the higher attrition rate of science and mathematics teachers was influenced by the existence of alternative career options with higher salary potential.…”

“…There does not appear to be any broad agreement in the literature as to the duration of time required to be considered retained, and in large part, this variable seems to have been an artifact of the available data and measures, rather than as a theoretically informed demarcation of a certain employment interval. As noted above, some studies define retention as first‐year teachers becoming second‐year teachers (Ronfeldt & McQueen, 2017; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004; Wood et al, 2012), while many other studies frame teacher retention as extending beyond the second year (Bang et al, 2007; Randi, 2017; Zumwalt et al, 2017). Zhang and Zeller (2016), noting a gap in the research about long‐term teacher retention, suggest that studies should direct their attention to retention of over 8–20 years or even longer.…”

Recruitment, Preparation, Placement, and Retention of Alternate Route and College-Prepared Teachers: An Early Study of a New Jersey Initiative

“…We look at perspectives of the prospective teachers for clues about retention in Zumwalt, Natriello, Randi, Rutter, and Sawyer (2017). Here we present initial expectations about teaching, their vision of the ideal teacher, evaluation of their own teaching, factors and incentives they said would keep them in teaching, and their teaching plans.…”