In special session following the end of the regular legislative session in early June, the General Assembly passed a bill that would make it easier for mid-career professionals to become teachers.
The state first created the Alternate Route to Teacher Certification (ARC) program in 1986 to attract mid-career professionals into teaching, particularly in areas with shortages of qualified candidates like math, science or special education.
Over more than two decades, the program has trained some 4,000 people to become teachers, with the average ARC student being 38 years and more than half holding graduate degrees. The program”™s graduates include Chris Poulos, a Spanish teacher at Joel Barlow High School in Redding who was the 2007 Connecticut teacher of the year.
Â
ARC candidates can complete the program over nine weeks between June and August, or study part time three weekends out of every four between October and May. Candidates must also complete a student teaching experience offered in July.
Â
The program allows participants to get certified to teach in public schools without completing a regular teaching preparation program.
Under the previous certification requirements, alternative route programs had to be provided through a college designated by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education under a formal contractual arrangement, with Fairfield University among the schools offering the program.
Would-be teachers will now be able to follow such programs through regional education service centers; private teacher training organizations; or the Department of Higher Education itself.
The law also allows a person certified to teach in another state to be awarded a Connecticut certificate without completing local testing requirements, provided that individual meets certain standards and teaches in Connecticut for a year under a temporary certificate.
