David A. Donathan

Troops to Teachers - Turning Kentucky Soldiers to Teachers David A. Donathan

As the population of certified teachers shrinks due to the number reaching retirement age, alternative certification programs have been proposed and, in some cases, implemented on state and national levels. The Department of Defense Troops to Teachers Program (Troops to Teachers), originally established as a Department of Defense career transition program, was reauthorized as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Although the program is primarily designed to provide quality classroom teachers at the secondary school level, the program was neither intended nor designed to certify teachers. The intent of the national Department of Defense program was to identify separating service members meeting a basic transition eligibility framework upon which states could overlay their individual alternative teacher certification criteria. Individual states, having developed their own specific certification criteria, could more quickly incorporate eligible veterans into their alternative certification program. This study addresses the need to assess the initial competencies of Kentucky's Troops to Teachers-certified teachers against those who were traditionally trained and certified. This book is designed for education professionals concerned with teacher preparedness.