In MINT Condition? The Politics of Alternative Certification and Pay Incentives for Teachers in Massachusetts

Abstract

Like many other states, Massachusetts enacted numerous changes to teacher certification policy during the 1980s and 1990s. During the summer of 1998, the state legislature and Department of Education made two especially significant changes: a signing bonus of U.S. $20,000 for an elite group of new teachers, and a state-funded alternative certification program. Alternative certification had been part of state policy for years prior to 1998 but had never been widely implemented. The signing bonus was a new idea. Drawing on the literature on policy formation, implementation, and termination, this article analyzes the process by which the signing bonus was enacted, and how it contributed to creation of the state alternative certification program. Ironically, although alternative certification was not widely implemented until it was coupled with the signing bonus, the alternative certification program survived a state budget crisis that led to termination of the signing bonus.