| Across the nation, teacher shortages are a major concern, especially in large urban school districts; small, rural districts; and districts with high levels of family poverty and low levels of student performance (Ohio Department of Education, 2004). As the need for teachers grows, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 and Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 focus on improving the quality of the nation's teacher workforce.;A growing source of licensed special education teachers is alternative teacher preparation programs. However, concerns have been raised regarding the quality of the graduates, with research results mixed, suggesting that programs vary substantially across content, with little known about completion rates and teacher performance (Nougaret et al., 2005; Rosenberg & Sindelar, 2005). The present study compared knowledge and performance and program satisfaction between 15 first-year intervention specialists who completed an alternative teacher preparation program to teach students with mild to moderate educational needs and 18 first-year intervention specialists who completed a traditional teacher preparation program to teach students with mild to moderate educational needs. The study also examined 16 public school administrators' perceptions of the teacher performance and their satisfaction with the two groups of teachers.;The findings provided evidence that teachers who completed the alternative teacher preparation program and teachers who completed the traditional teacher preparation program did not differ on either Praxis II scores or grade point averages, as well as perceptions of job knowledge and performance. Similarly, no significant differences were found in administrator perceptions that teachers from either teacher preparation program were as well prepared as completers from special education teacher preparation programs at other universities.;Based on these findings, intervention specialists from both teacher preparation programs appeared to have similar academic outcomes and perceptions of their knowledge and performance. They were equally satisfied with their programs. Their administrators also perceived that these intervention specialists were comparable to licensed special education teachers from other colleges and universities. However, the results indicated that further examination of teacher perception and performance and student achievement is needed. |
