States have created "alternate" routes to teacher certification. Comparison of alternate and college-based programs reveals clear trends in recruitment but a mixed picture regarding development of expertise. Alternate certification represents a radical departure from the current norm of teacher preparation. Several factors have led to the rise of alternative certification: a decline in the public's confidence that colleges could recruit and adequately prepare enough effective teachers, concerns about teacher shortages, worries about the quality of newly entering teachers, and concern about the academic quality of individuals entering the teaching profession. Those in favor of the two competing efforts to reform teacher education, alternative certification and reform of college-based preparation, make different assumptions about what knowledge teachers need. University-based programs assume that pedagogical content knowledge needs to be developed in a professional program. Alternative route programs assume that pedagogical skills develop as teachers teach. However, research shows that alternative routes which rely on a teacher's own experience may miseducate teachers and may narrow the range of settings for which teachers are prepared. A key argument in favor of alternative certification is that it may draw mature individuals with prior work experience to the teacher pool. (Contains 120 references.) (JB)