TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Susan Kleps is an art teacher at Tulsa's Webster High School whose first career was as a medic in the United States Army.

Emilee Iverson teaches remedial geometry at Broken Arrow High School after recently graduating from college with a degree in psychology.

Both took nontraditional paths to become classroom teachers, but a Tulsa World analysis of state teacher certification data found that nontraditional paths are becoming increasingly common amid Oklahoma's teacher shortage.

"The alternative certification has kind of morphed into something it wasn't intended to be," said...