Update: Alternative Certification in Pennsylvania

This first surfaced a few weeks ago, but here are some updated details on Ed Rendell's plans to ease teacher certification in Pennsylvania (for teachers in shortage areas only).

If you think certification does more harm than good - which I tend to - you can't help but like this plan. It swaps a 2-4 year program out and replaces it with what is essentially a 4-month intro to teaching. In a perfect world, is this the way I would do it? No. But, given the choice between keeping up the status quo and bringing fresh minds into our classrooms, I'll take this.

Alternative Certification in Pennsylvania

Governor Ed Rendell is asking the legislature to create a fast track certification program for math, science, engineering, and technology professionals (full story here).

The gist is that professionals could receive a "residency" certificate, good for three years, if they fulfilled the following criteria:

1. A bachelor's, master's, or doctorate in a relevant subject area
2. Work experience to complement the degree (less experience required for higher degrees)
3. Completion of an intensive 4 month preparation program
4. Mentorship during their first year of teaching

This sounds to me like a sensible and simple way to ease the transition into teaching. So, please, you Pennsylvanians out there, make your voices heard!