Pathways to Teacher Certification: Does It Really Matter When It Comes to Efficacy and Effectiveness?

ABSTRACT

The pressure to provide qualified teachers for all students has resulted in reform efforts. including the upgrading of credential and course requirements, as well as the proliferation of so-called alternative routes to teacher certification, which seek to create differentiated pathways into the classroom. In the present study, we compared teacher candidates who followed three pathways leading to certification in adolescence education while attending the same university. A limited number of factors were held constant among pathways, and only factors inherent to the routes were varied. The dependent variables were (1) teacher effectiveness, as measured through Danielson's Observation Scale, and (2) teacher efficacy, as measured through Gibson and Dembo's Teacher Efficacy Scale. No significant differences in efficacy or effectiveness were found, suggesting that the policy of offering a variety of pathways leading to certification might be one that produces similarly qualified teachers.