Alternative teacher preparation programs in foreign languages

For the past 20 years educators have debated whether alternative teacher certification, or preparation, is a valid solution to the critical shortage now facing the profession. In foreign language education, Kennesaw State University (KSU) has developed an alternative preparation program designed to give candidates the same knowledge, skills, and dispositions imparted in traditional undergraduate preparation and to hold these individuals to the same standards required of undergraduates in foreign language education. This article describes the program, discusses the disadvantages and rewards of the assessment plan, and offers observations on the future of nontraditional preparation of teachers.