Principle Recommendation

Require the Office of Higher Education, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to create an Alternate Route to Certification (ARC) program for school leaders by July 1, 2016.

Current Connecticut Statute

Public Act 10-111 required the SDE to approve an ARC administrator program for potential participants who had at least four years of teaching experience and who would agree to work as administrative residents for one year. Currently, there is only one such program, and its participants must agree to work in the cities of Hartford, New Haven, or Bridgeport.[i]

Supporting Research

The administrator position is a designated shortage area year after year in Connecticut.[ii]  From 2012 to 2014, there were not enough qualified administrator candidates available to fill needed vacancies. This resulted in 23 administrators being hired via a Durational Shortage Area Permit (DSAP), which was the highest number of DSAPs used for any of the educator ten shortage areas.[iii] Compounding this shortage problem, in the next five years, it is estimated that 46% of current administrators will reach retirement age.

Additionally, CT’s neighboring states in the NY metropolitan area and New England region participate in administrator reciprocity agreements.[iv] With the exception of New Jersey, CT’s neighbors also require fewer than the 5 years of teaching experience required of CT administrators. [v]

Connecticut’s ARC program for teachers is mostly self-supporting (tuition=$4,000) and is run by the Office of Higher Education. Since the ARC was created in 1986, over 4,800 educators have been prepared, including the 2007 CT Teacher of the Year[vi].

Sources