Beyond Shortages: How Diverse Teacher Preparation Pathways Elevate Student Learning
A daily reality in our schools today is the teacher shortage. Across the country, countless classrooms are staffed by substitute teachers. In many states, the only requirement to become a substitute is a high school diploma or GED. This means students can spend weeks or even months learning from adults with minimal classroom preparation and no ongoing support.
Administrators are scrambling to reassign teachers. Support staff and teachers, during their planning periods, are often pulled into classrooms to cover vacancies. This further erodes the essential support systems that are a must for student success and intensifies staff burnout. Although the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey has indicated the percentage of teachers planning to leave the profession has dropped from 22 percent in 2024 to 16 percent in 2025, the reality is stark.
Persistent teacher shortages create a crisis that affects students, staff, and communities. They are more than just an administrative headache. Teacher shortages lower student achievement, deter prospective educators, and force districts to spend additional time and money filling gaps. These valuable resources need to be invested in students.
Rather than just filling positions, districts should view the teacher shortage crisis as an opportunity to elevate school communities through innovation. The rise in alternative teacher certification pathways, including apprenticeships now recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, should be celebrated, not criticized by those who believe they bypass rigorous teacher training. By recruiting educators from diverse professional backgrounds, schools can enrich student learning through teacher collaboration. Traditionally trained teachers often specialize in areas such as content knowledge and effective instructional strategies while alternatively trained teachers bring a wide variety of skills, perspectives, and experiences.
True synergy happens when educators from traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs work side by side, combining classroom theory with real-world expertise. Imagine partnering a traditionally trained Social Studies teacher with a Social Studies teacher who previously worked as a district attorney or a traditionally trained Science teacher with a Science teacher who spent 25 years as a chemist. This partnership can offer students insights and perspectives that textbooks simply cannot provide.
Some question whether alternative teacher preparation pathways prepare teachers to manage the rigor of classroom management and curriculum design. This pathway into the profession mirrors a flipped instructional model. While teachers are identified as the teacher of record quickly, their training is far from complete. Many alternative pathways now pair newer teachers with seasoned educators by integrating high-quality mentorship and ongoing professional development. This collaborative approach highlights the synergy that can happen strengthening teaching and learning across the board. Focusing on strengthening mentoring programs as identified in the Learning Policy Institute brief, Solving the Teacher Shortage: How to Attract and Retain Excellent Educators (2016), provides students with daily access to a teacher who is committed to providing the best possible education and is eager to support students daily, slowing the revolving door.
Recent research supports the premise that students benefit from interacting with teachers from varied backgrounds. The Learning Policy Institute’s Effective Teacher Professional Development (2017) found that professional development is most effective when it includes active, hand-on approaches and connects classroom content to authentic scenarios. Teachers are better prepared to bring content to life when they draw from their own professional backgrounds and expertise. Schools that invest in high-quality teacher development, such as mentoring, empower teachers to use real-word strategies creating more engaged students.
If we truly want to redefine success for our schools, transformational leaders need to think creatively about teacher recruitment. Leaders must actively recruit teachers from both traditional and alternative teacher preparation pathways. This isn’t only about solving shortages, it is about designing a curriculum that reflects the world outside the classroom, fostering stronger community connections, and preparing students for the complexities of life beyond the classroom.
It’s time for policymakers, administrators, and communities to move beyond outdated beliefs of who qualifies as a teacher. By embracing both traditional and alternative teacher preparation pathways, we can build powerful educational teams that prepare every student for success.