How does Florida attract and retain good teachers? Are there alternative certification routes?
Half of all new teachers in Florida are now coming through a variety of alternative certification routes. The state adopted the American Board for Certification of Teaching Excellence as a path into the classroom, but also a variety of other programs sponsored by school districts and community colleges. This reform obviously hasn’t hurt Florida’s scores, and may have helped by broadening the talent pool to mid-career professionals interested in teaching. 4) Now, as I understand it, “in the last 10 years, Florida has given parents more choice in where their children go to school than any other state”. How has this come about? Florida has more children in private choice programs than any state in the country. The McKay Scholarship Program- vouchers for children with disabilities- is the largest voucher program in the country, with over 19,000 students attending over 800 private schools. Studies have shown that parents with children in the McKay program are extremely happy with it, and th
