The Educate to Innovate campaign recently announced by President Obama may become the latest addition to the Department of Education’s hall of inefficient and costly federal programs. The President revealed a plan to increase taxpayer funding for teaching programs by $10 million and lauded a promise by 75 public universities to graduate thousands of new science and technology teachers over the next 5 years. Dave Saba, President and CEO of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), a non-profit organization that provides an alternative route to teacher certification …
One of the most effective ways to get good teachers into the classroom is to provide people with an alternative path toward teacher certification. States that are producing some of the biggest gains in student learning, such as Florida, have embraced the practice. What’s more, alternative teacher certification is garnering bi-partisan support as a measure that will propel meaningful education reform. The New York Times has even begun to champion the practice, profiling one of the most successful organizations in the teacher certification business: …the American Board for Certification of …
