Transition to Teaching

Lessons Learned by a First-Year Rural Alternative Route Program

Authors

  • Lance Potter Eastern Washington University
  • Suzie Henning Eastern Washington University
  • Tara Haskins Eastern Washington University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3776/tpre.2021.v11n1p124-141

Keywords:

alternative route teacher preparation, rural education, teacher shortage, Grow Your Own

Abstract

This article describes lessons learned from the first-year implementation of a Grow Your Own teacher preparation alternative route program, Transition to Teaching. Implemented in a rural area in Washington State facing significant teacher shortages, the Transition to Teaching program reaches potential teachers who may not have access to a four-year college and a high-quality, competency-based teacher preparation program. The Transition to Teaching program fulfills the priority assigned by the state to recruiting and retaining teachers from underrepresented groups. Beginning with describing the design of the program and the application process, we discuss students’ first-year experiences, lessons learned, and solutions developed. Content, strategies, access, and efficiencies are highlighted and advice for new programs is provided. In the end, we prove programs comparable to Transition to Teaching require clear collaboration and coordination as well as oversight to ensure teacher candidates are successful.

Author Biographies

Lance Potter, Eastern Washington University

Lance Potter, PhD, is an associate professor in education. He teaches courses in foundations, educational leadership, and school law. While at Eastern Washington University, he has helped initiate an outdoor environmental education program cooperative with a local middle school and conservancy organization and helped begin an alternate route to teacher certification program serving rural schools in central and eastern Washington. Dr. Potter brings an eclectic past to his position at Eastern. Among other things, he has been the superintendent and principal of an international school, taught at that same international school, taught middle school, taught college and high school courses, managed a farm, practiced law, worked in business, and taught skiing in Colorado. Dr. Potter holds a PhD in Educational Leadership from Penn State University and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

Suzie Henning, Eastern Washington University

A. Suzie Henning, EdD, grew up in Boise, Idaho, USA. She pursued a BA in History from Seattle University, an MIT in Curriculum and Development from Fordham University Lincoln Center, and her doctorate in educational validity studies from the University of Durham in the United Kingdom. After teaching high school social studies in the Bronx, she moved to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and became a teacher educator at Mt. Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In 2008, she moved to Spokane and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Foundations in the School of Education at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, USA. Her research interests include philosophy of education, critical pedagogy, educational assessments and validity, social foundations, culturally responsive teaching, alternate-routes to certification, and social emotional learning. Along with her partner, Prof. Brian G. Henning, she lives with her two almost-adult daughters, a dog named Liberty, and a cat named Christmas Coal.

Tara Haskins, Eastern Washington University

Tara Haskins, PhD, is a professor of literacy at Eastern Washington University. She currently serves as the Chair of the Education Department. Tara earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis in literacy from Washington State University. Her areas of expertise are early reading, reading intervention, and academic language and vocabulary. She has taught courses in reading methods, ELL, content area literacy, reading and writing. Prior to coming to EWU, Tara spent time working with K-3 children and adolescents. Her experience also includes consulting with schools throughout the United States engaging in work around school-wide reform, behavior, intervention in the areas of math and reading, ELL, data, assessment and intervention, and program assessment.

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ECU RURAL EDUCATION INSTITUTE

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Published

2021-06-17

How to Cite

Potter, R. L., Henning, A. S. ., & Haskins, T. L. (2021). Transition to Teaching: Lessons Learned by a First-Year Rural Alternative Route Program. Theory & Practice in Rural Education, 11(1), 124–141. https://doi.org/10.3776/tpre.2021.v11n1p124-141

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2021): Theory & Practice in Rural Education

Section

Practice Forum

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Copyright (c) 2021 Lance Potter, Suzie Henning, Tara Haskins

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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