Alternative Routes to Special Education Teacher Preparation: A Policy in Need of a New Playbook

Considerable growth in the number and availability of alternative route (AR) programs has significantly impacted special education teacher (SET) preparation. In this chapter, the authors synthesize recent research on AR programs intended to prepare SETs, while considering the utility of the terms traditional and alternative. They also consider how changing preferences among young people may need to be considered in the ways preparation programs are designed and implemented. Detailed are how the complementary processes and principles of collective impact and convergence, several employed successfully by Teach for America (TFA), can provide a new playbook for addressing productively the multiple, often competing, demands of program participants, community members, and teacher educators engaged in SET workforce development.