A Case Study: Alternative Certification

This study was a heuristic, descriptive case study of the Alternative Certification Program in 4 central Florida counties. The purpose of this study was to: (a) identify the awareness of the existence of the reported alternative certification components implemented by 4 counties in Florida, and identify any additional components; (b) determine the importance of the targeted teaching criteria needed for successful teaching as identified in the literature to the ACP teacher, principal and coordinator; (c) determine the advantages/disadvantages of the program as viewed by the ACP participants, principals, and coordinators; (d) identify how many of the 4 counties kept data on participants entering and leaving the program; (e) determine how many participants exited the ACP before completion; and (f) identify if a particular subject area had a higher percentage of ACP teachers. The study was based on data gathered using the Alternative Certification Program Survey, a survey created by the researcher. The population for this study was 4 public school districts in central Florida. The completed surveys yielded a usable return rate of 41% (N= 258). The researcher conducted the data analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results were presented as a whole, as well as disaggregated and presented by county. Analysis of the data revealed: (a) that the awareness of the ACP components varied between counties and respondent groups of teacher participants, principals, and coordinators; (b) the teachers and principals did not agree on rating the importance of the teaching criteria needed for an ACP teacher to be successful, and the coordinators rated all the criteria equally; (c) the perceptions of advantages of the ACP differed between the teacher participants, principals, and coordinators; (d) the perceptions of disadvantages of the ACP differed between the teacher participants, principals, and coordinators; (e) three of the counties kept entrance and exit data on the ACP; (f) one county had \u3c1% non-completion rate for ACP participants; and (g) highest number of ACP participants were entering into the subject areas of math and science. Conclusions, recommendations for future research, and recommendations for alternative certification in central Florida were made. One recommendation for further research was for a study to be replicated with ACP teachers hired for another school year, and repeated in future years, to gather information concerning awareness of the existence of the ACP components, importance of teaching criteria needed for successful teaching, and advantages/disadvantages of the program as perceived by the teacher participants, principals, and coordinators. Another recommendation for future research was to replicate and conduct this study in other Florida counties in order to compare results with those of this study concerning the Alternative Certification Program