- Adopted by the Board of Directors: September 10, 2002

Background

Over the next several years the Texas public school system will continue to face a shortage of qualified educators due to five major factors:

• The Texas public school system is adding 70,000 students to its enrollment each year.
• Increasing numbers of students are taking rigorous courses in existing shortage areas.
• Large numbers of educators leave the profession in the first few years of practice.
• Large numbers of “Baby Boomer” educators will retire in the next few years.

Educator preparation programs are not producing graduates in sufficient numbers to keep up with the demand.

The following table for school districts in Region IV (Houston area) illustrates the problem. Although the numbers are smaller elsewhere, the pattern is similar across the state.

Increasingly, school districts are hiring teachers and other professionals (usually principals) that have been prepared through “Alternative Certification Programs.” In 2001, one-fourth of the new teachers produced statewide came from Alternative Certification Programs. Administrators report a high level of satisfaction with the educators from alternative programs and express a general willingness to hire them in the future.

The table in Attachment One shows that these innovative programs are preparing a significant number and increasing proportion of the new teachers in Texas. However, because the alternative programs receive no financial support from the state, the participants, who already have a baccalaureate degree, must pay the entire cost (in the area of $5,000 to $6,000) themselves. This is an obvious impediment to the expansion of ACPs.