New Jersey Alternate Route Teachers Challenge Conventional Employment & Diversity Pathways

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 this year’s 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 education 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.

TOP PERFORMING SCHOOLS HIRE ALTERNATE ROUTE TEACHERS

One common misconception is that Alternate Route teachers aren’t 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 27 percent of its candidates are teaching at NJ school districts ranking in the top 100 high-performing districts in the state. Almost 8 percent of Rutgers Alternate Route graduates are teaching in private K-12 schools and 17 percent in charter public schools, while 75 percent accepted teaching positions at traditional public schools. An almost equal number of Rutgers Alternate Route graduates are teaching in suburban (54 percent) and urban (46 percent) public schools.

Of those numbers, an overwhelming majority are permanent, full-time teaching positions (71 percent).

ALTERNATE ROUTE TEACHERS ARE MULTICULTURAL 

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, teachers of color comprise just 18 percent of the teaching profession, with male teachers of color representing only 2 percent nationwide.

The Rutgers Alternate Route Program cohort demographics reflect our commitment to increasing diversity in the teacher workforce. Just over 36 percent of Rutgers Alternate Route candidates are candidates of diverse backgrounds, which is double the national average of teachers entering the profession and 13 percent of which identify as Black or African-descent. The percentage of Hispanic and Asian American candidates in our program, making up 13 and 14 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 IS 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. Rutgers Alternate Route teacher certification programs allow those interested in a rewarding teaching career to pursue it at any age. While about 41 percent of our candidates are recent graduates under the age of 30, mature adults make up the rest of our learners - 49 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 10 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.