Alternative Teacher Preparation Program Fact Sheet

The Program

Alternative teacher preparation (ATP) programs in New York State are equivalent to traditional teacher preparation programs in content, but are offered in a different format. Through collaborative agreements between teacher education institutions and school districts, people who already hold baccalaureate degrees may enroll in an ATP program at an institution of higher education and, will upon completion of the program, be recommended for teacher preparation.  Upon completion of an introductory component where candidates receive basic pedagogical instruction and orientation and successfully taking the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) and Content Specialty Test (CST), candidates are issued a three-year State Transitional B teaching certificate. Each successful candidate may then be placed in a school as a teacher of record. Over the two- to three-year period of the program, candidates teach under the supervision of school-based mentors and college supervisors and complete the coursework in a teacher education program. The goal of these programs is to increase the number of qualified teachers in difficult-to-staff subject and geographic areas.          

The Need

New York State has not escaped the teacher shortage that exists nationwide. During the 2001-2002 academic year, approximately 13,000 people who did not met the preparation standards were teaching in New York State with temporary licenses. In the spring of 2002, New York City employed 12,400 teachers with temporary licenses and upstate districts employed another 500 such teachers. The State Education Departments June 2001 "Teacher Supply and Demand Workbook" identified mathematics, career and technical education, languages other than English, the sciences, and school media specialist as shortage areas across New York State. New York City has identified shortages for the 2003-2004 school year in special education, bilingual education, bilingual special education, mathematics, and the sciences.

In 1999, the Board of Regents voted to terminate the issuance of temporary licenses effective September 2003. This was followed by the requirement of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 that only certified teachers may be hired after the first day of the 2002-3 school year, with every teacher certified in the classes being taught by the end of the 2005-6 school year. By eliminating temporary licenses, there is an immediate need for over 13,000 certified teachers in New York State by fall 2003.

The Rationale                                                                              

In 1999 the Board of Regents adopted higher standards for teacher education programs in New York State, requiring all teacher preparation programs to be reviewed and reregistered in 2000 and 2001. Due to the great need for teachers it became necessary to adapt these programs to prepare teachers in a shorter timeframe without risking the integrity of the higher standards. This is being accomplished through ATP programs offered by accredited New York State teacher education institutions working with local school districts. All ATP programs meet the same requirements as traditional programs and provide a built-in mechanism of new teacher induction that appears to be effective in preparing new teachers who, in the words of one school administrator, are "comparable to any other first-year teacher, with the same types of concerns."
 

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