A story I wrote last week about an alternative teacher certification program in Missouri is getting a big response. ABCTE, or the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, is an internet-based program that eases the path for mid-career professionals wanting to get into the classroom. The story has made the “most e-mailed” list on www.stltoday.com for the past few days, and I’ve fielded at least a dozen e-mails and calls from people asking about the program. More than 350 people in Missouri had enrolled in the program last week, and now they report 385 have signed up.

“We definitely had a huge number of calls and lots interest at the end of last week, in response to both the article and also the Aug 28th date for program acceptance in MO,” Bonnie Zuckerman, head of teacher recruitment, wrote in an e-mail to me today. “We’ve now had over 2200 people request more information about the program.”

There has also been some negative feedback with people who don’t seem crazy about the program, and are letting everyone know in the “reader comments” section below the story. They’re basically saying that ABCTE is a slap in the face to teachers who go to school and take the traditional route to their certificates.

If you want to know more about ABCTE, visit its website at www.abcte.org or call them toll-free at 877-669-2228.