https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118805989 Journal of Teacher Education 1–14 © 2018 American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0022487118805989 journals.sagepub.com/home/jte Research/Empirical A great deal of research and policy emphasis has recently been placed on the preparation of future teachers. The adop- tion of demanding K-12 college and career ready standards in mathematics over the last 6 years by the vast majority of states has led to the related question of what type of mathe- matics and mathematics pedagogy preparation is critical for future teachers to have. Over the same general time period, there has been a trend leading to an increasingly larger num- ber of teachers (program completers) being prepared through alternative route programs. By the 2009-2010 school year, one in five of all U.S. future teacher graduates came from alternative programs. Among all states, Texas—besides being one of the largest overall producers of potential future teachers (16%), it also is the largest producer of alternatively certified teachers—accounting for almost half (44%) of all 2009-2010 teachers who completed their programs. 1 Such a proliferation of teachers from alternative certifica- tion programs has inspired a vigorous debate among policy makers and researchers about the comparative advantages of alternative and traditional certification programs, with sub- stantial disagreement about their relative effectiveness. Employing data drawn from a survey of newly certified teachers in Texas, we examine whether graduates of tradi- tional teacher preparation programs receive stronger content preparation in mathematics and mathematics pedagogy than graduates of alternative programs. Background Alternative certification is a catch-all term for K-12 teachers who are not graduates of a “traditional” teacher certification program associated with a college or university. Alternative certification first developed in New Jersey in the 1980s in response to a perceived teacher shortage, and has prolifer- ated over the last 20 years (Feistritzer, 2005b). Alternative certification programs now exist in nearly all U.S. states (only three do not—Ohio, North Dakota, and Wyoming). Policy makers and educational stakeholders have encour- aged the development of alternative certification programs to address a lack of qualified math and science teachers willing to work in “hard to staff” (typically high poverty/high minor- ity) schools and districts. 805989JTE XX X 10.1177/0022487118805989Journal of Teacher EducationSchmidt et al. research-article 2018 1 Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA Corresponding Author: William H. Schmidt, Michigan State University, 238 Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Email: bschmidt@msu.edu The Role of Content Knowledge in Mathematics Teacher Preparation: A Study of Traditional and Alternative Teacher Preparation in Texas William H. Schmidt 1 , Nathan A. Burroughs 1 , Richard T. Houang 1 , and Leland S. Cogan 1 Abstract Employing data from a stratified random survey of newly certified teachers in Texas, we compare the mathematical content preparation of traditional teacher program graduates with graduates of alternative programs. We find that graduates of traditional programs have statistically significantly higher content preparation even when taking precollege preparation into account. These findings were consistent across different types of alternative programs. Alternatively certified teachers reported higher college entrance exam scores in mathematics, but this was statistically significant only for Grades 4 to 8. After merging survey results with NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) data about the schools at which teachers were employed, we found similar demographic characteristics between the two types of teachers—alternatively certified teachers were not more likely to teach in disadvantaged schools. Finally, while the content preparation of teachers was consistent across types of schools, teachers in disadvantaged schools tended to have lower SAT and ACT scores for both alternatively and traditionally prepared teachers. Keywords mathematics education, alternative certification, teacher education preparation