Part of our mission at Rutgers Alternate Route is to create pathways for people of all backgrounds, ages, and educational levels to pursue and launch successful careers in teaching and education. The Rutgers Center for Effective School Practices’ Alternate Route Program surveys our graduates each year to allow insight into their transition into teaching and learn about program satisfaction.

The results of the 2020 survey remind us to continue providing these new pathways to teaching. The Rutgers Alternate Route program is committed to increasing new teacher workforce inclusivity and diversity, and our candidates are proving that the preparation they’ve gained has afforded them with the professional development skills to excel as teachers and educators. Here are just some of our findings about the typical Alternate Route candidates and how they are challenging the status quo by transitioning into a new career in education.

ALTERNATE ROUTE TEACHERS COME FROM MANY DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS

K-12 classrooms continue to grow in diversity, and students of color are projected to make up the majority of classroom populations by the year 2024, according to a 2016 report from the Department of Education. As such, there is an increased need to recruit and retain multicultural teaching professionals. Presently, 80 percent of teachers are white.

The Rutgers Alternate Route Program cohort demographics reflect our commitment to increasing diversity in the teacher workforce. Just over 38 percent of Rutgers Alternate Route candidates are candidates of diverse backgrounds, which is double the national average of teachers entering the profession and 14 percent of which identify as Black or African descent. The percentage of Hispanic and Asian American candidates in our program, making up 14 and 10 percent respectively, is significantly higher than these groups’ representation in the public school teaching positions, with Latino or Hispanic/Latino teachers making up 8 percent and Asian teachers at 2 percent, as reported by the Department of Education.

ALTERNATE ROUTE TEACHERS TEACH AT TOP PERFORMING NJ SCHOOLS 

One common misconception is that Alternate Route teachers are not competitively recruited as traditional undergraduate teaching candidates when applying for full-time positions at top-performing New Jersey schools.

Our hiring data shows that Rutgers Alternate Route’s most recent cohort boasts that 21 percent of its candidates are teaching at NJ school districts ranking in the top 100 high-performing districts in the state. Additionally, 75 percent of those hired are offered permanent, full-time teaching positions. Almost five percent of Rutgers Alternate Route graduates are teaching in private K-12 schools and 25 percent in charter public schools, while 70 percent accepted teaching positions at traditional public schools. An almost equal number of Rutgers Alternate Route graduates are teaching in suburban (56 percent) and urban (44 percent) public schools.

ALTERNATE ROUTE WORKS FOR CAREER-CHANGERS OF ANY AGE

There is a shifting landscape in the lives of working Americans where it’s more and more common to seek new professions as we age and develop new interests, follow our passions, and continue to earn past typical retirement ages. Certification programs like Rutgers Alternate Route allow those interested in a rewarding teaching career to pursue it at any age. While about 37 percent of our candidates are recent graduates under the age of 30, mature adults make up the rest of our learners - 55 percent of candidates training to become teachers with Rutgers Alternate Route were born in the 1970s and ‘80s, and candidates over 50 years of age make up the other 8 percent, demonstrating that learning and teaching is a lifelong pursuit, and Alternate Route makes it possible to share the gift of education at any age.

If you’re considering following your dream of teaching, Rutgers Alternate Route can offer you the support and training you need to succeed. Be sure to follow Rutgers Alternate Route on Twitter for more information and stories from the field of education.