Politics of Change in Teacher Education

The purpose of this study is to seek a greater understanding of the political dynamics influencing the involvement of Florida institutions of higher education in alternative teacher certification policies and programs. Adapting J. Victor Baldridge's Interest Articulation Model, the analysis focuses on three stages of organization-level policy formation: social context, interest articulation, and legislative transformation. The political analysis centers on deans (authorities) and teacher education faculty (partisans) as they maneuver within an institutional context that is influenced by a number of external forces such as state policy, market forces, and competing ideas about the future of teacher education and certification. Differences among teacher education institutions and alternative certification programs are considered in the analysis. Data are drawn from 26 semi-structured interviews with administrators and faculty members from the colleges of education at Florida's state universities and a web-based survey of 64 higher education administrators across the state. The study found that state policy has catalyzed and legitimized new alternative pathways and has influenced state universities and community colleges to engage in alternative preparation. Twenty-two (68%) of the 32 survey respondents report that their institutions have been involved in the development or implementation of AC programs, and 12 IHE-operated programs were identified in the survey. Administrators perceive that their faculty are supportive of both the district-based and state AC programs. Survey data suggest that community college administrators are more supportive of AC than their counterparts in the state universities and independent colleges and universities. Deans and faculty at state universities have put up little resistance, realizing that the process will move forward with or without them. Many deans feel obligated to engage so they can be seen as team players in the state. In addition, deans are using their support of a state alternative certification initiative as quid pro quo for more flexibility in the state's regulatory framework for approved teacher education programs. For the most part, however, programs at the state universities are campus-based, center on graduate coursework, and are modified variations of "traditional" programs, which is far from the on-the-job, competency-based programming envisioned by the state.