Theorizing the Politics of Educational Reform: The Case of New Jersey’s Alternate Route to Teacher Certification

Abstract

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The retention question in context-specific teacher education: Do beginning teachers and their program leaders see teachers' future career eye to eye

“…Prospective teachers in the program are expected to embody these notions, skills and dispositions that they develop through their preparation, in order to become successful urban teachers. 7 For background on the history and politics of alternative teacher certification programs see Tamir's (2008Tamir's ( , 2009b) work on New Jersey's pioneering alternate route program and the political debate that surrounded it during the 1980s.…”

Staying Above the Fray: Framing and Conflict in the Coverage of Education Policy Debates

“…This was also, in part, why the NJEA-in an unprecedented move-supported Kean for reelection against a Democratic candidate in the 1985 state gubernatorial elections (Fulton 2004;Tamir 2008).…”

“…While this policy was considered during the 1980s among education circles in the United States as an intrusive step taken by the state (see, e.g., the position of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education [AACTE] Task Force on Teacher Certification [1984] and alternative routes, as published in the Journal of Teacher Education), the media seems to have silenced the fierce conflict around this policy. Indeed, as can be seen in table 2, the "alternate route," which was successfully implemented by the state after a bitter battle between state officials and teacher educators (Carlson et al 1983;Tamir 2008Tamir , 2010, appeared in stories that were framed more than other policies around thematic reasoning (x 2 (1, N p 174) p 4.76, p p .029) and lack of conflict, creating a somewhat unreal image to the "alternate route" policy, as if it passed with no substantial opposition. Social agents who vehemently opposed these policies, like teacher educators, were given minimal space in the news to argue or bring data that could challenge the state's perspective (chi-square test confirms this contention, showing that teacher educators who were the prime target of this policy tended to appear in stories featuring "alternate route" [as the main policy] at the same low rate they appeared in other stories).…”

Capital, Power and the Struggle Over Teacher Certification

“…Opponents of the reform included the NJEA, which enjoyed the support of most New Jersey teachers and was considered, for years, to be one of the most powerful political actors in the state (Salmore & Salmore, 1993;Tamir, 2008). From the late 1970s, the union experienced some decline in power, but continued to be considered a prominent agent in the field of educational policy.…”