| Current research continues to reveal student perception as one of the most salient determinants of academic success in elementary, secondary and post-secondary learning environments. Student perception of teachers may be most affected by the teacher's knowledge of content, training and certification in the content area, and the efficacy in which the content is delivered. If correlations exist between student academic outcomes and teacher quality (i.e. level of education, and certification of the teacher), then extant literature that reviews teacher certification types such as traditional and alternative, is extremely relevant to the study of student perceptions. More specifically, since there has been increased national focus on staffing schools with highly qualified teachers as crystallized in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, finding and retaining highly qualified teachers in content areas such as mathematics has been particularly problematic for urban school systems (Foote, Brantlinger Hayday, Smith & Lidia, 2010), is significant. The need for professionals in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) continues to grow at a comparable rate as well to meet the demands of this high tech global economy. (DeJarnette, 2012). High-quality teacher preparation through traditional and alternative certification programs is strategic to this issue.;The historical context of the debate is significant. The reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), now the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2002, mandated that all teachers be "highly qualified". Added to this mandate of "highly qualified teachers, there has been an increased scrutiny of traditional and alternative certification programs as they ultimately link teacher quality to student performance.;Abraham Maslow's theory of humanistic needs will serve as a theoretical framework to guide this descriptive study and to respond to the research questions. As a predictive analysis, a chi square and logistic regression model will be used to analyze the data and explain the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. This study will provide information to policy makers, educators and stakeholders regarding the importance of students' perceptions and how they impact learning outcomes. This study explores the ways in which teacher certification programs may impact students' perceptions of their teachers and further influence these students' academic outcomes in the area of mathematics. |
