IP-5-1990 (April 1990)
Author: 1990 Symposium Speakers

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Executive Summary

The Carnegie Corporation warns that the caliber of Americas newest teachers is at an all-time low. In response, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer has urged the legislature to revise teacher certification regulations in ways that will encourage professionals from other fields to enter teaching.

“It works” is the verdict on alternative certification from Saul Cooperman, commissioner of education in New Jersey, who pioneered the reform nationally. Business leaders like David Kearns, chairman of Xerox, also favor opening up the alternate route. But the reaction of teacher unions and university education deans has ranged from polite skepticism to open hostility.

The Colorado General Assembly will soon complete work on an alternative teacher certification program, House Bill 1150, patterned after the New Jersey system. This paper collects six viewpoints on the issue, on a spectrum from the blunt criticism of classics professor Christian Kopff to the double-talk of union leader and Home Ec teacher Nancy King.