Trends in Alternate Route to Licensure Secondary Teacher Practices

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a group of ARL students enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a public university would demonstrate similar or disparate challenges during classroom observations. This can identify areas of weakness for teacher educators and influence programming and course planning to better prepare ARL students. Eleven secondary STEM ARL students were observed by the same researcher in their own classrooms. Using a content analysis methodology researcher were able to identify themes from the documented observations. Several themes emerged from the classroom observations that were made. These themes include technology considerations, classroom environment, time management, and teacher/student discourse. The findings of this study are most applicable to teacher preparation programs that include ARL students as well as traditional undergraduates. Although this study focused on secondary STEM disciplines it is possible that these results will also benefit programs such as elementary education or special education. Given the well-documented teacher shortages and difficulty in attracting people to the field of secondary education specifically, this research is timely and beneficial to teacher educators that are preparing ARL students for the classroom. ARL students deserve special consideration, and their educators can incorporate these findings to maximize learning.