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Reflections on the 30-Year Success of the Alternative Route Teaching Program

Before this program “Einstein could not have taught math in New Jersey” on the K-12 level"

Just over 30 years ago, Governor Tom Kean proposed landmark education reform through the Alternative Route Certification Program, which radically changed existing teacher training and certification laws.  The legislation allowed those with a bachelor’s degree in key subject areas to shorten the route to teacher certification and eliminate many education course requirements. This program is now an integral part of not just the New Jersey teacher employment system, but also is employed in many states nationwide.

Kean, who was the state’s 48^thGovernor and is known worldwide for his role as chairman of the 9/11 Commission, reflects on the success of the Alternative Route Certification Program.

How did you know that this idea and the resulting legislation would be so successful?

Atlantic Cape Community College and Rutgers University–Camden signed a Conditional Acceptance Agreement May 11, allowing students to complete three years of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Atlantic Cape and seamlessly transfer to Rutgers–Camden for completion.The 3+1 agreement allows students to pay the lower tuition and fees at Atlantic Cape for an additional year, a savings of more than $20,000, before transferring to the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden.

Doing Things Your Own Way 

What's going to be your next big invention? Students and faculty are taking their ideas and building them at the Rutgers Makerspace, which has tools like a laser cutter and 3D printer to help you get the job done. Everyone is welcome. Watch and see how it works.

Rutgers offers 13 summer courses in Point Pleasant Beach and Wildwood

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s Summer Session will again reach out to Jersey Shore aficionados looking to advance their education with 13 courses for academic credit in its second “RU at the Shore” season. Fifty-nine students enrolled in inaugural RU at the Shore classes last summer.

Rutgers will offer courses in Point Pleasant Beach and Wildwood, a new location for 2016. All shore classes will be conducted in a hybrid format, combining in-class and online learning experiences, beginning June 27. Registration at summer.rutgers.edu/news continues through June 1. Late registration (with late fee) continues through June 24.

Then, One Returns to School to Become the Teacher

In 1999, Joe Monzo, then chief financial officer for Ewing Township, NJ, had more than 20 years experience in the public sector. Looking for an opportunity to advance his career, he considered pursuing a master’s degree — a suggestion made by the mayor of Ewing Township at that time.

“I chose the Rutgers Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) program because of the name and the convenient location in Mercer County,” says Monzo. He started the program a year later and graduated with his EMPA degree in 2001.

Weeklong program introduces field to U.S., international high school students

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Rutgers University-New Brunswick Summer Session will launch a Pre-Engineering Summer Academy in 2016, a one-week, on-campus certificate program for high school students that introduces them to engineering fields through first-hand contact with practitioners and educators.

The new program is open to U.S. high school and international secondary school juniors and seniors, ages 16-18, and is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 6, 2016. Rutgers School of Engineering faculty members and practicing professional engineers serve as instructors. The academy faculty will introduce the students to disciplines including aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer, electrical, forensic and mechanical engineering. The integrated program involves lectures, demonstrations, hands-on projects, tours and field trips.

For the 3,400 international students in Rutgers’s diverse student body, online courses taken during summer and winter terms enable them to be in two places at once.

Hailing from more than 115 countries, international students use online courses to hurdle time and distance barriers to complete required courses, pursue a minor, or chase other academic goals.

Bhagyawati Sanghani is one of those. She’s an international student who took a class even though she traveled back home to India over winter break.

Taking an online class -- remotely from her family’s home – as part of Winter Session at Rutgers University-New Brunswick allowed her to graduate with a minor in Public Health in May 2015. That minor rounded out her degree in Biological Sciences from the School of Environmental & Biological Sciences.