Employing data from a stratified random survey of newly certified teachers in Texas, we compare the mathematical content preparation of traditional teacher program graduates with graduates of alternative programs. We find that graduates of traditional programs have statistically significantly higher content preparation even when taking precollege…

Research over the past two decades has shown the alignment of teachers’ instruction with state standards is generally weak. Proposing that alignment is a useful measure of teachers' curricular knowledge (Shulman, 1986), this study uses a large database of teacher reports of their content coverage to understand the relationship of teacher…

A survey of early childhood teacher certification processes in the 50 states found great differences in the interpretation of what age and grade levels constitute early childhood education and in the certification requirements for teachers. Educational trends in this area are discussed, as is the need for training early childhood education…