Alternative teacher certification programs make it easier for people who had other careers to join the teaching profession. Programs like Teach for America and the New Teacher Project that work at bringing college graduates quickly into the profession have some data to suggest their teachers can do better at raising student achievement than teachers who followed the traditional route. This group hopes the same results can come from people who have already had a successful career.

A new group calling itself the California Teacher Corps has formed to combine the efforts of a number of organizations to try to bring an additional 100,000 teachers into the profession by 2020 using these alternative certification paths.

Personally, I think this is a good thing. I think that teachers who come into the profession because of their desire to have an impact after completing another career have much to offer public education. There isn't anything magical about these second-career teachers. I'm sure some are great and some a probably lousy teachers. Like their peers who came through the traditional system, they will have an opportunity to find out and hopefully get the assistance they need to improve any skills that are lacking.