The Adoption of Alternate Route Teacher Certification Laws Among US States

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  In Roundtable Session: Contested Classrooms: Censorship, Polarization, and Teacher Policy in U.S. Education

Abstract

This paper applies organizational theories of diffusion to explain a specific policy trend – alternative teacher certification – that is a response to public concerns over teacher shortages and teacher quality. Using several data sources and event-history analyses, we modeled this spread using Strang and Tuma’s (1993) heterogeneous diffusion model. Among the predictors we considered, three produce relatively consistent effects. On the educational front, states that spend more on instruction as a proportion of their educational budget are less likely to adopt AC routes. Membership in teachers’ unions reduces the propensity of states to adopt AC routes or be influenced by prior adopters. And states with a higher rate of female labor force participation are more likely to adopt AC routes.

Authors

• Jennifer Lauren Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Anand Swaminathan, Emory University

• Demetrius Lewis, University of California - Riverside