ABSTRACT
For a number of years, public dissatisfaction with schools has been coupled with dissatisfaction with schools of education as well. Education schools have been variously criticized as ineffective in preparing teachers for their work, unresponsive to new demands, remote from practice, and barriers to the recruitment of bright college students into teaching. In more than 40 states policy makers have enacted alternate routes to teacher certification to create pathways into teaching other than those provided by traditional 4-year undergraduate teacher education programs. Upon his election in 1988, President Bush’s only education proposal was the encouragement of alternative teacher certification to allow more flexible teacher recruitment. In 1995, Newt Gingrich proposed the elimination of teacher certification rules, which require preparation for teaching, as his major education initiative.
