Increasing the Rural Special Education Teacher Pipeline Through Asynchronous Online Instruction: A Program Description of the Colorado Christian University Alternative Certification Program

Abstract

There is a documented shortage of special education teachers nationwide, and many rural school districts report hiring uncertified or temporary teachers to fill the open positions. To meet the needs of rural schools in our state, Colorado Christian University developed an asynchronous online alternative special education teacher certification program. Colorado Christian University’s program includes 12 months of online coursework, as well as remote video supervision. This article provides a brief description of the program and preliminary data supporting its effectiveness in meeting the needs of rural Colorado schools.

Keywords

alternative certification online learning rural schools special education teacher preparation

Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2011) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) require that all special education students be taught by a state-certified teacher. When students with disabilities receive instruction from qualified and certified teachers, they have improved outcomes, including higher math and reading scores (Feng & Sass, 2013). Despite research supporting the need for certified teachers in all special education classrooms, there are a large percentage of students with disabilities being taught by teachers who do not hold state certifications in special education.

Documented Teacher Shortage

A documented shortage of special education teachers nationwide has resulted in students with disabilities receiving instruction from uncertified teachers. Due to this shortage, many rural school districts report hiring uncertified or temporary teachers to fill the open positions (Berry, Petrin, Gravelle, & Farmer, 2012; Brownell, Bishop, & Sindelar, 2018). Nationally, almost 13% of special education teachers are uncertified (Rosenberg, Boyer, Sindelar, & Misra, 2007). In Colorado, more than 5% of all public school teachers do not hold state teaching licenses (United States Department of Education, 2016). In addition, more than half of Colorado teachers are recruited from other states (Colorado Department of Higher Education, 2017), indicating that they are not trained locally and may be unfamiliar with state education standards and expectations. Enrollment in teacher preparation programs declined by more than 250,000 nationwide between the 2008 to 2009 and 2013 to 2014 school years; this is a 31% decrease in teacher candidates in the 5-year period (United States Department of Education, 2015). This declining enrollment means that fewer certified teachers are available to fill the open positions and increases the likelihood that rural school districts will hire uncertified teachers.

The teacher shortage for special education classrooms is even more critical than for other subject areas, with 48 states and the District of Columbia having shortages (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016) and 8% to 20% of schools reporting difficulty filling open special education teaching positions (Malkus, Mulvaney Hoyer, & Sparks, 2015). The special education teacher shortage was first noted in the 1983 report A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), and the challenge of finding certified teachers to fill open special education teaching positions has continued since then. In Colorado, 60% of rural school districts reported being unable to find certified teachers to fill all vacancies within their district during the 2017 to 2018 school year (Colorado Department of Education, 2018), indicating that the majority of school districts had to hire teachers without state certification to teach.

For schools that are unable to find certified special education teachers, there is a high likelihood that the position will be filled by an uncertified teacher; less than 45% of new special education teachers have full state teacher special education teacher certification (Boe & Cook, 2006). The number of open special education teaching positions currently outnumbers the teachers graduating from teacher preparation programs (Cooley Nichols, Bicard, Bicard, & Casey, 2008) and the demand for special educators is expected to grow by 8% by 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). The use of uncertified teachers to fill these open positions has a negative effect on student learning, so it is imperative that students receive instruction from a certified special education teacher. Research indicates that students with disabilities have higher levels of academic achievement when their teacher holds state special education licensure (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Feng & Sass, 2013). This teacher shortage has a significant impact on education in Colorado, where 40% of rural school districts hired long-term substitutes to fill open positions during the 2017 to 2018 school year (Colorado Department of Education, 2018).

In addition to the shortage of teachers entering the field, high teacher attrition rates also contribute to the shortage. Special education teachers leave the field at the alarming rate of 13% annually (Plash & Piotrowski, 2006), which is about twice the rate of general education teachers (Mitchell & Arnold, 2004). In addition, a large percentage of current special education teachers are expected to retire, thus increasing the demand for newly state-certified special educators (Dewey et al., 2017). High teacher attrition rates have a negative impact on student academic achievement (Kaden, Patterson, Healy, & Adams, 2016), particularly in the areas of language arts and math (Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013). The impact on student achievement makes the numbers of teachers leaving the field of particular concern. In rural areas, the total attrition rate for all teachers is more than 8% annually (Goldring, Taie, Riddles, & Owens, 2014). Miller (2012) reports that rural special education teachers are 9% more likely to leave the field than are rural teachers in other subject areas. These high attrition rates increase the probability that students with disabilities will be taught by uncertified teachers. Because of the teacher shortage and the high rates of rural special education teacher attrition, as well as the impacts of uncertified teachers on students with disabilities, it is critical for rural school districts to hire and retain highly qualified special education teachers. Teacher preparation programs need to support school districts by looking for creative solutions for increasing the teacher pipeline.

Alternative Certification

One possible solution for increasing the numbers of certified special education teachers available to teach in rural communities is the use of alternative certification. Alternative certification programs provide a strong option for providing aspiring special education teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the classroom while allowing them to begin teaching as they pursue their teacher certification requirements (Karge & McCabe, 2014; Quigney, 2010; Woods, 2016). Alternative teacher certification programs are teacher preparation programs that teacher candidates complete while working in their first teaching position (Woods, 2016). The ability to work full time and earn a salary while completing coursework makes alternative certification especially appealing to mid-career professionals (Bowe, Braam, Lawrenz, & Kirchhoff, 2011; Woods, 2016). The ability to hire teachers who are pursuing their alternative certification allows school districts to fill high need positions, such as special education (Bruno, Scott, & Willis, 2018). Eleven percent of all teacher candidates receive their teacher preparation through an alternative certification program (United States Department of Education, 2015); in Colorado, almost 800 teachers per year complete their teacher licensure requirements through an alternative certification program (Colorado Department of Education, 2017).

Because high numbers of teachers receive their preparation through alternative certification programs, it is critical that these programs provide high-quality preparation. While alternative certification programs share the characteristics of providing training to teachers while they are in their first teaching positions, programs vary in both their intensity and in the level of pedagogical training they provide (Quigney, 2010; Sayman, Chiu, & Lusk, 2018). Alternative teacher certification programs can be short with minimal training and coursework or structured similar to traditional teacher training programs (Sayman et al., 2018). Many alternative certification programs emphasize the content area skills that teacher candidates will be expected to teach, but do not provide sufficient instruction on evidence-based instructional practices for students with disabilities (Kaplan & Owings, 2003; Quigney, 2010). When alternatively licensed teachers receive instruction on evidence-based teaching practices, student outcomes in their classrooms are similar to those of other new teachers (Glazerman, Mayer, & Decker, 2006), indicating that well-trained alternatively certified teacher candidates can positively impact student learning.

In addition, there is evidence to suggest that low-quality teacher preparation impacts the high attrition rate in the field, with teachers who receive evidence-based pedagogical training staying the field longer than those who do not (Sutcher et al., 2016). As noted earlier, high teacher attrition rates have a negative impact on student achievement. When teacher candidates receive their training through a program that emphasizes pedagogical training, they have an increased likelihood of remaining in the field for a longer period of time; Karge and McCabe (2014) found that 96% of alternatively certified teacher candidates from university-based programs that utilize evidence-based teacher training practices remained in the field for 10 years or longer. In addition to the higher attrition rate, teachers without sufficient pedagogical training are often unable to meet the unique learning needs of students with disabilities (Quigney, 2010).

The use of alternative licensure programs for aspiring teachers in rural communities provides benefits to the community and the students served in the local schools. Preparing educators to teach in their own communities, through a concept often referred to as “grow your own,” leads to higher teacher retention rates and teachers who understand the unique needs of the community (Azano & Stewart, 2015).

Asynchronous Online Instruction as a Solution

For aspiring teachers living in rural communities, distance from a university and the cost of university tuition can pose challenges in accessing an educator preparation program (Monk, 2007), including many existing alternative certification programs. For rural school districts, the distance from metropolitan areas and other school districts can provide challenges in providing teacher candidates and current school personnel with training from experts in the field (Hargreaves, Parsley, & Cox, 2015). As teacher preparation programs consider ways to support the needs of teacher candidates in rural areas, they must find ways to address the issues of both cost and distance.

In the past, teacher preparation programs have explored a variety of options including (a) satellite campuses, (b) weekend on-campus intensive courses, and (c) online instruction in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. The use of online coursework has proven to be particularly effective for rural special education teacher candidates (Smith Canter, Voytecki, & Rodriguez, 2007). Stakeholders of online teacher preparation courses believe that teacher candidates who receive instruction in a fully online format are well prepared for classroom instruction and are equally qualified as are teacher candidates completing traditional in-seat programs (Lilienthal, Potthoff, & Anderson, 2017; Woodcock, Sisco, & Eady, 2015).

Online learning can be provided through either synchronous or asynchronous instruction. Synchronous online coursework involves real-time instruction from the professor, as well as direct interaction between students in a web-based learning management system (LMS; Politis & Politis, 2016; Woodcock et al., 2015). The use of synchronous online instruction leads to learner outcomes, in terms of knowledge and motivation, similar to the outcomes of face-to-face learning (Politis & Politis, 2016) and is an effective method for training pre-service teachers (Woodcock et al., 2015).

Despite its benefits, the use of synchronous online instruction can pose challenges to rural teacher candidates due to unreliable Internet (Marsh & Mitchell, 2014); these challenges make it necessary for teacher preparation programs to explore other options for training aspiring teacher candidates. For students in rural communities, online coursework can also be completed through asynchronous instruction, which is a form of instruction that allows students to access course materials at any time instead of being required to be online at a certain time (Garrison, 2003). Asynchronous online instruction provides students the flexibility to complete work at times convenient to them (Pilotti, Anderson, Hardy, Murphy, & Vincent, 2017). Asynchronous remote teacher candidate supervision can further support the learning needs of rural teacher candidates and overcomes the barriers of unreliable Internet connections by having teacher candidates upload videos of themselves teaching for university supervisors to review later in lieu of in-person observations or real-time observations using web-based programs (Marsh & Mitchell, 2014). The use of video observations may also increase teacher candidate competencies. Lilienthal et al. (2017) found that teacher candidates who used video recordings of their classroom instruction led to high levels of teacher candidate reflection on their own teaching.

In Colorado, the challenges associated with finding certified teachers to fill vacancies is especially critical as 147 of the state’s 196 school districts are considered to be rural (Colorado Department of Education, 2017). This article provides a description of Colorado Christian University’s solution for addressing the special education teacher shortage in Colorado rural communities through the use of an asynchronous online teacher training program. Specifically, a description of Colorado Christian University’s program and preliminary data examining the program effectiveness are presented.

Colorado Christian University’s Alternative Licensure Program

To meet the needs of rural schools in our state and address the challenges related to providing teacher preparation for candidates in rural communities, Colorado Christian University developed an asynchronous online special education alternative certification program, which prepares candidates to meet the Colorado certification requirements for K-12 noncategorical special education, as well as elementary education. To be accepted into the program, candidates must have completed an undergraduate degree program with a minimum 2.5 grade point average (GPA), pass an interview with a faculty member, submit an essay response regarding their teaching philosophy, pass a background check, and have a job offer to teach special education in a Colorado public or private school. Teacher candidates enter the Colorado Christian University alternative certification program with two primary backgrounds: special education paraprofessional or a career in the business world, but there are no specific requirements regarding background experiences for admission.

Coursework

The coursework takes a full 12 months to complete and students can enter the program in either the fall or spring semester. Teacher candidates must complete 29 credit hours (see Table 1), which includes a combination of instructional and internship courses. Instructional courses are offered in the fall, spring, and summer semesters, and to complete the program in one year, teacher candidates must take courses all three semesters.

Table 1.

Special Education Alternative Certification Program Courses.

Course number	Course title
SED 500	Introduction to Special Education
SED 502	Collaboration and Partnership in Special Education
SED 503	Classroom Management for Special Needs Students
SED 517	Advanced Math Strategies for Intervention
SED 521	Internship in Teaching I
SED 522	Internship in Teaching II
SED 548	Diagnostic Assessment/Evaluation of Students with Mild/Moderate Needs
SED 560	Curriculum & Instruction for Students with Mild/Moderate Needs
SED 580	Assistive & Technological Devices
SED 609	Language Development: Disorders of Individuals with Special Needs
RDG 546	Reading Instruction K-12

Each of the instructional courses in the program is taught using an asynchronous online delivery model; as mentioned earlier, the use of asynchronous instruction assists rural teacher candidates in accessing teacher preparation. The courses each take 5 weeks to complete and students take one three-credit hour course at a time, for a total of three courses each semester. Course instructional materials include textbook readings, article readings, web-based videos, and recorded lectures with closed captioning. Online learning modules from the IRIS Center and the CEEDAR Center are also utilized in many courses. In addition, many courses include a weekly optional synchronous class session using Blackboard’s Collaborate function or Zoom, where the faculty member provides a short lecture and answers student questions; each session is recorded, transcribed, and saved in the course for all students to access at their convenience.

Each week, students are required to actively participate in a weekly discussion, which is moderated by the course professor. These weekly discussion topics include (a) sharing their experiences in the classroom, (b) debating controversial topics in the field of special education, (c) sharing research and best instructional practices, (d) further exploring the course learning materials, (e) practicing the development of materials that can be shared with parents or colleagues, and (f) creating and sharing materials for students. For each discussion topic, students are required to locate resources in addition to course materials to support their statements and are expected to respond to at least three classmates’ posts with responses that further the discussion. Examples of weekly discussion topics are presented in Table 2. Our practice of professor-facilitated asynchronous online discussion aligns with the findings from Wu and Hiltz (2004), who report that student learning is enhanced when the course instructor actively participates in discussions, motivates students, and responds to student posts with clarifications that answer student questions.

Table 2.

Examples of Weekly Discussion Prompts.

Type of discussion post	Discussion post prompt
Introduction at the Beginning of Course	Your professor and fellow students would like to know something about you. Please address the following: One component of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, also known as the PLAAFPs. This section of the IEP describes who the student is as a person; his or her likes and dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and goals. To introduce yourself to the class, please write the PLAAFPs about yourself and refer to yourself in the third person. Information about how to write this is in this week’s required reading from the IEP Checklist. Your professor has also posted his or her personal PLAAFPs on the Discussion board; model your submission after the Instructor’s post.
Researching and Sharing Evidence-Based Interventions	Please view the IHE video in addition to reading the “PDF” document found in the Reading/Viewing assignments on locating peer-reviewed articles from the library database. Following the instructions provided, and specifically using the search terms “Special Education and Intervention,” locate an article of your choice regarding an evidence-based, peer-reviewed intervention. You can access the library website by clicking on the link in the left sidebar of this course. After reading the article, create a short summary of what you learned and the implications for classroom instruction. Your summary may be in the form of a 1 to 2 paragraph text, a PowerPoint presentation, a video or audio recording of you explaining what you learned, or other options per the approval of your professor.
Practicing Parent Communication	Please read the following article regarding the autism-vaccine myth: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/autism-vaccine-myth.html. Despite the evidence refuting this myth, many parents and education professionals believe that autism is caused by vaccines. As a Special Education teacher, you are likely to encounter both parents and colleagues who hold this belief. One emerging trend for teachers is to utilize social media to connect with families. Many teachers have created teacher blogs to share what their students are learning, as well as information that might be relevant to the parents of their students. Based on what you read in this article, write a blog post directed at parents. You may post your blog post directly to the Discussion board or you may choose to actually create a blog and post the link in the Discussion board, if desired. Your blog post should answer the following: How will you respond when parents or other colleagues share their beliefs regarding the autism myth with you? Think about how you will handle the situation in a professional and respectful manner when drafting this blog post.
Creating and Sharing Student Materials	Visual representations are often used as a communication tool for students with autism. As you have learned this week, one visual communication tool is PECS or a picture communication system. Please create a paragraph of 3 to 5 sentences on a topic of your choice using either only picture cues or a combination of picture cues and words. To create your sentences, you may choose to use Boardmaker icons, free clip art from the Internet, pictures you have drawn, or photographs. Please be consistent, though, and use the same method for the entire paragraph.

Note. PECS = Picture Exchange Communication System.

In addition to the weekly discussion, students complete one or two weekly assignments, which include reflection papers, lesson plans, student assessments, presentations for colleagues, research projects, and the creation of materials that can be used in their classrooms. Each assignment requires students to connect their personal experiences in the classroom with peer-reviewed research and course materials; this critical reflection of the integration of evidence-based practices into the classroom increases their efficacy and skills as a teacher (Lowenstein & Brill, 2010).

The coursework provided at Colorado Christian University includes rigorous training in evidence-based teaching strategies to ensure that all alternative certification teacher candidates have a strong pedagogical knowledge, which will increase their effectiveness in the classroom and the likelihood that they will remain in the field of special education (Karge & McCabe, 2014; Sutcher et al., 2016). During their first semester in the program, students learn (a) the basics of Individual Education Programs (IEPs), (b) the regulations outlined in both IDEA and Colorado special education laws, (c) behavior management skills that include the use of Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), (d) how to conduct a functional behavior analysis (FBA) and use the data to write a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP), and (e) strategies for ensuring effective collaboration with colleagues and families. In the second semester, students learn interventions for supporting student learning in language development, reading, writing, and math; in addition, they receive specific training on conducting assessments and using assessment data to guide IEP formation and classroom instruction. During the final semester, coursework covers (a) additional strategies for math and reading instruction, (b) using assistive technology to support student learning, (c) transition planning, and (d) Universal Design for Learning.

Students are provided the flexibility to access course materials and submit assignments at their convenience, but must meet all assignment deadlines. To ensure consistency among all courses in the program, all initial discussion posts are due on Wednesday evenings at 11:59 and assignments are due on Sunday evenings at 11:59 mountain time. In addition, each course utilizes the same late policy of a 10% per day deduction for late assignment submissions. To ensure that students can use professor feedback to improve future assignment submissions, all student work is graded within 5 days of the due date.

LMS

Our program utilizes the Blackboard LMS and we have purchased the Collaborate extension, which is a video conferencing software within the LMS (Blackboard, 2018). The use of Blackboard Collaborate allows us to host optional weekly online class sessions for students. Course instructors choose a 30 min to 1 hr block each week in which to offer an optional lecture, as well as an opportunity for students to have their questions answered in real time. About 10% of students attend these session on a regular basis. In addition to Collaborate sessions facilitated by faculty, students are encouraged to use Collaborate to hold study sessions on their own. While only a small percentage of students attend the Collaborate sessions on a weekly basis, students report that knowing they have the opportunity to connect with professors and classmates via this tool increases their interest and engagement in the course learning (Lohmann, Boothe, Hathcote, & Turpin, 2018).

Internship

In addition to the instructional courses, students take SED 521 in the fall semester and SED 522 in the spring. During these internship courses, each teacher candidate is assigned a university supervisor, as well as a certified special education mentor teacher within their schools. The systematic use of both skilled university supervisors and school-based mentoring is critical for the success of alternative certification candidates (Haberman, 2006; Quigney, 2010; Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2002). The university supervisors have a variety of responsibilities for ensuring student success, including (a) providing instruction on lesson planning and the development of lesson plans that are aligned with state academic standards; (b) giving feedback on teacher candidates’ lesson plans; (c) observing lessons taught by teacher candidates; (d) providing feedback on instruction, behavior management, and other skills as outlined in the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards; (e) modeling instructional and behavior management practices; (f) supporting the development of IEPs; and (g) answering teacher candidates questions regarding instruction, collaboration, special education laws, and other areas as requested by alternative licensure teacher candidates. To ensure that university supervisors have the skills needed to complete these tasks, we utilize a strong vetting process that includes a review of their education and experience, a simulation exercise in which supervisors must provide feedback on a video of a teacher candidate, and a rigorous interview process. Once university supervisors are hired, we provide them with extensive training and support that includes an annual summit that supervisors can choose to attend either in-person or remotely, regular web-based meetings for supervisors in each content area, and monthly e-mail newsletters. In addition, full-time Colorado Christian University faculty occasionally serve as university supervisors as we believe that we are better able to support our part-time faculty by doing so.

School-based mentors are also a valued part of the Colorado Christian University alternative certification program. The mentor is responsible for two observations each semester. They complete the same observation forms as supervisors, providing consistency for teacher candidates. The observation forms note proficiency in (a) instructional management, (b) classroom management, (c) assessment, and (d) observed professional dispositional qualities. In addition, the mentor will be responsible for signing off on the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards that are observed during observations and school events. School-based mentors also fill the role of support throughout the school day as they are on site and available to the teacher candidates. Before the teacher candidate begins their school year, the Colorado Christian University supervisor, the school-based mentor, the principal, and the teacher candidate meet to make sure that all requirements for the individual school, Colorado Christian University, and the Colorado Department of Education are met.

Depending on the location of the student, supervision may occur either via a traditional in-person model or, for more remote candidates, supervision occurs through remote video observation. When possible, teacher candidates are assigned a university supervisors located within a 50 to 75 mile radius of their school. If the teacher candidates are further than the 75 mile radius, the university supervisor will utilize our remote observation protocol. Students receive a minimum of four observations by the university supervisors each semester and additional observations are provided for students needing further support. In addition, students are observed at least twice per semester by their school-based mentor teacher. Before the teacher candidate enters the classroom, there is a group meeting between teacher candidate, mentor, principal, and supervisor. Each visit for observation, the supervisor also does a “check-in” with the mentor to discuss teacher candidate progress. All school-based mentors are certified special education teachers with at least 3 years of teaching experience.

For remote observations, we utilize VoiceThread video technology, which uses a multisensory approach and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (VoiceThread, 2018) to allow teacher candidates and university supervisors the opportunity to interact via video, audio, written text, and drawing in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Through our VoiceThread observations, supervisors encourage students to self-assess by using a “flip” protocol. This protocol has the teacher candidate view his or her recorded lesson first, commenting on what they see in their own teaching. Then, the university supervisor views and comments before asking the teacher candidate to respond. This ensures that there is a threaded discussion in which the alternative certification teacher candidate is actively engaged in the observation process and reflecting on his or her own teaching. The practice of using video recordings of teacher candidates as the basis for reflection is supported by the literature as an effective way to enhance teacher candidates’ ability to engage in high-quality reflection that enhances later instruction (Hougan, Johnson, Novak, Foote, & Palmeri, 2018; Mosley Wetzel, Maloch, & Hoffman, 2017).

To ensure the confidentiality of K-12 students in the classrooms of our teacher candidates, we use several levels of security. First, the principals in the schools where our teacher candidates are located are informed of our use of video observations and sign a written agreement for its use; to date, we have not had any schools decline permission, but are currently designing protocols for addressing this challenge. Second, our teacher candidates and university supervisors must log into first Blackboard and then VoiceThread, using their personal usernames and passwords, before they can upload, view, or comment on videos. Third, when uploading their videos, our teacher candidates must indicate who has permission to view the video; we instruct teacher candidates to provide permission to only their university supervisors and the course professor. Finally, once the teacher candidate and the university supervisor both feel that they have successfully discussed the lesson, the teacher candidate will delete the video. Generally, the entire process takes less than a week and we guide our teacher candidates in ensuring that these videos remain confidential.

As a component of the internship courses, each student completes a final project that demonstrates their ability to apply the concepts learned in coursework to the classroom. This final project includes self-reflection, an investigation of research-based interventions for addressing specific needs in the classroom, and the implementation of a chosen intervention. Students utilize action research skills to design, implement, and report on the academic or behavior intervention they choose for their final project. The practice of using action research techniques as a component of teacher preparation is an effective method for preparing teacher candidates to make data-based decisions for addressing student needs in the classroom (Beal, 2018). Final projects may include the implementation of a single intervention to address one student’s needs or the use of an evidence-based practice to address the learning or behavioral needs for a small group of students. Recently, students have completed final projects that address (a) the impact of movement on student behavior and academic performance, (b) the use of flashcards to increase math fact fluency, (c) using behavior-specific praise to increase desired student behaviors, and (d) repeated readings as an intervention for struggling readers in the high-school classroom. This final project is in lieu of a teaching portfolio or teacher work sample.

At the conclusion of the 12 months of coursework, alternative certification candidates are eligible to apply for their full Colorado teacher certification. In addition, teacher candidates may choose to apply their coursework toward a master’s degree in special education. Obtaining a master’s degree in special education requires five courses in addition to the alternative certification courses: (a) SED 512: Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders, (b) SED 581: Diversity, Disability, & Special Education, (c) SED 610: Special Education Action Research Methods, (d) EDU 625: Issues in Education, and (e) SED 692: Special Education Capstone. Per Colorado law, alternative certification programs must be designed to be completed within 12 months, but extra time for completion can be provided for teacher candidates when necessary.

Data Supporting the Program

The success of the Colorado Christian University special education alternative certification program is evidenced in two primary ways: completion data and student perceptions of the program. Since the inception of our program in 2004, we have had a total of 188 alternative certification teacher candidates and 170 of students have completed the coursework and became Colorado-certified teachers. This is a completion rate of more than 90%, which reflects national data that find that between 90% and 100% of alternative certification, candidates complete their programs (Rosenberg et al., 2007). In addition to the quantitative completion rate data, qualitative responses to a student survey also indicate the success of our program.

To better understand how the Colorado Christian University alternative certification program is meeting the needs of rural teacher candidates, a pilot online survey was distributed in fall 2018 to students who entered the program in 2016, 2017, or 2018. Twenty students received the open-ended survey (see Table 3) and 12 special educators responded. This response rate of 55% exceeds the norms for e-mail survey administration (Fincham, 2008; Guo, Kopec, Cibere, Li, & Goldsmith, 2016). However, we realize that the small number of respondents is insufficient to gain a solid understanding of student perceptions and we are treating these responses as initial feedback with the intention of conducting follow-up interviews to better understand how our program currently meets the needs of rural special education alternative certification teacher candidates, as well as how we can better meet their needs. Based on these initial responses, the flexibility of asynchronous online instruction for working adults is the primary reason that alternative certification teacher candidates are choosing our program, with 11 of the respondents noting this as a benefit to our program. In addition, respondents noted that they liked the 5-week classes so that they could focus on one topic at a time instead of trying to balance the demands of multiple courses. Finally, respondents noted the benefits associated with integrating coursework and real-life application in their classrooms.

Table 3.

Online Survey Distributed to Alternative Certification Students.

Type of question	Question
Multiple choice	In which year did you enter Colorado Christian University’s Alternative Licensure Program? a. 2016 b. 2017 c. 2018
Multiple choice	In what type of community do you currently teach? a. Urban b. Suburban c. Rural
Open-ended	Why did you choose to enter the Alternative Licensure Program (ALP) at Colorado Christian University?
Open-ended	What do you perceive as the benefits to an asynchronous online alternative licensure program?
Open-ended	In what ways does the format of Colorado Christian University’s SPED ALP program meet your needs?
Open-ended	How can Colorado Christian University improve the delivery of our ALP program to better meet your needs?

Discussion

Based on the survey responses and the program completion rate, we believe that our model of teacher preparation effectively meets the needs of rural teacher candidates in Colorado. Over the past several years, we have learned a few lessons that have led to changes in our programs. We are currently planning for the ways in which we can improve our program to better meet the needs of rural teacher candidates.

Lessons Learned

Through the implementation of the alternative certification program with fully online courses, we have learned several critical lessons regarding best practices in online instruction, remote video observation, and how to best meet the needs of rural schools and rural alternative certification candidates. First, we have learned that rural teacher candidates are more willing to enter an alternative certification program that is offered fully online versus one that requires in-seat courses. Moving our program online resulted in a drastic increase in enrollment, and the feedback we received indicates that many students choose our program because it is more easily accessible than are traditional in-seat courses. Second, we have learned that rural Internet connections can often be unreliable and that we cannot require students to attend synchronous online sessions. While we miss the opportunity to see our students and to have discussions with them in real time, the use of an asynchronous model makes our program even more accessible for our rural teacher candidates.

Future Directions

As we look to the future, we are preparing for increased marketing and growth of our program. Our experiences working with rural teacher candidates have guided us in developing a program that meets the needs of alternative certification teacher candidates throughout Colorado and we are beginning the process of more actively marketing our program. This will be accomplished through building partnerships with rural schools and rural school districts by meeting with superintendents and principals and attending trainings targeted at current teachers, paraprofessionals, and substitute teachers. In addition, we are providing free professional development trainings, both in-person and via video, to paraprofessionals and teachers in targeted school districts within Colorado. The first author is currently working with one rural special education cooperative and one rural school district to design and lead an online professional learning community for their paraprofessionals with the goal of increasing competencies in their current roles, as well as introducing them to online learning with the hope that they will decide to pursue their teacher training through Colorado Christian University. The second author serves on the board of a rural charter school and regularly presents to teachers and administrators in rural Colorado school districts. The third author spends time in rural schools at least once per week, observing teacher candidates and talking with principals and other school administrators about how we can better support the needs of their schools. In addition, she regularly presents at in-service trainings for teachers and substitute teachers. Finally, we are encouraging our graduates to share their experiences with colleagues who might be interested in obtaining their teacher certification.

In addition to increased marketing, we are pursuing grant funding to support aspiring teacher candidates. The costs of teacher training can sometimes feel prohibitive, especially for teachers in rural Colorado communities with average teacher salaries of about US$30,000 (Meltzer, 2018). With this in mind, we are seeking ways to financially support rural alternative certification candidates through direct tuition payments and stipends for remaining in the classroom after receiving their Colorado teacher certification. We believe that the opportunity to increase financial support to alternative certification teacher candidates will bring more students to our program and will address the Colorado rural teacher shortage.

Conclusion

Asynchronous online coursework and remote supervision serve as an effective method for providing alternative certification teacher preparation to candidates in rural communities. The increased use of these practices may be a means of addressing the teacher shortage in rural communities and ensuring that all students with disabilities are taught by a qualified special education teacher. Our experiences with the implementation of our program lead us to believe that these online teacher training practices can be accomplished while still ensuring that teacher candidates receive appropriate supervision and support, as well as high-quality pedagogical training to ensure they are prepared to implement evidence-based instructional practices for students receiving special education services. To expand on our experiences, we believe that there is a need for increased research across the country regarding the use of online instruction for training special education teachers; specifically, we believe that studies are needed to examine (a) the skills of teachers trained fully online, (b) the retention and attrition rates of remotely trained teachers, (c) principal perceptions of teachers receiving online training and the impact of these perceptions on hiring practices, and (d) best practices in asynchronous online instruction and remote teacher candidate supervision.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Marla J. Lohmann

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