AU educators chronicle teacher-training experiments

AURORA, Ill. July 28, 2006 - Three Aurora University educators have published an article about a unique alternative teacher certification program led by AU from 2001 to 2004.

Gary Jewel, Donna DeSpain, and Jody Piro co-authored “CMAC: A Collaborative Experiment in Alternative Certification at Aurora University.” It appeared in the June edition of Success in High-Need Schools, the online journal of Associated Colleges of Illinois.

Jewel is an instructor in AU’s College of Education, DeSpain is dean of adult and graduate studies, and Piro is a former assistant professor of education.

In their article, they recounted how AU helped organize the Consortium Model of Alternative Certification (CMAC) in 2001 to address Illinois’ critical shortage of teachers.

With approval from the Illinois State Board of Education, AU, Aurora and Rockford public school districts, Northern Illinois University, and Waubonsee Community College partnered to offer CMAC initially in Rockford, and later through Transition to Teaching (TTT), an Aurora-based program.

AU was the certifying institution for CMAC. Waubonsee was the administrative agent for a Higher Education Cooperation Act grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The CMAC model was followed by a collaboration between ACI and AU using federal funds the TTT program.

Under the CMAC program, and later the TTT program, host school districts--Rockford, Freeport, Bellwood, East Aurora, and West Aurora--identified and recommended candidates for 14-month alternative certification programs that started in 2002 and 2003.

A prerequisite was a bachelor’s degree and five years of professional work experience. Candidates held bachelor’s or master’s degrees and were career-changers from fields including sales, journalism, military, and electrical contracting.

The article authors reported that the alternative certification student groups added significantly to teaching ranks in high-need school. “Both cohorts (study groups) proved to be effective pathways for career-changers to make the professional transition to teaching, armed with the best practices for high-need schools,” the authors concluded.

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