This study examines the developmental history of teacher's certifications in Texas as a means to highlight needed improvements.

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first major purpose was to determine if Occupational Orientation teachers perceived the required certification courses to be useful in helping them provide the instruction necessary to prepare young people to make tentative choices about the world of work. The second major purpose of this study was to provide this information to the teacher educators and personnel at the Texas Education Agency, so that it might be used to modify the content of these certification courses so that they will be more relevant to the needs of Occupational Orientation teachers.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to the professional status of the science teachers in the four-year accredited high schools of Texas for the school year 1952-1953. The principal concern of the study is "Who is teaching science?"

The concern that prompted this study is the inadequacy of the present system of handling teacher certification information, especially as it involves the movement of information between Texas' teacher-certifying universities, local school districts, and the Texas Education Agency. Since it was found that no computerized certification system presently exists in any state, the primary purpose of this study was to develop a model for a computerized teacher certification information system; a secondary purpose was to determine the major factors involved in regard to the feasibility of such a model. The model is written from an education administration viewpoint and is limited to in-state elementary and secondary teacher certification, 1972 certification standards, and existing computer capabilities.

In response to a growing teacher shortage, increasing numbers of secondary teachers are prepared through streamlined certification programs. For this reason, assessing candidates' content area knowledge gained from institutions of higher education across the United States is an important program admission factor as candidates must demonstrate content area knowledge by passing a Texas content area certification test (TExES). This study examines content knowledge for candidates enrolled in an online post­-baccalaureate program from September 1, 2002 through April 30, 2005. Academic transcript analysis and grades 8-­12 subject tests of the TExES were used as a proxy for subject matter knowledge for a sample of individuals seeking initial teacher certification in a post­-baccalaureate teacher certification at the University of North Texas. Descriptive data,linear regression, and logistic regression analyses were used to draw conclusions about the content area knowledge of the individuals in the sample. Scores on the TExES were used to determine the relationships between the content area knowledge of initial certification students and the number of content area courses completed, the grade point averages, and time elapsed between the completion of the last content area course and the student's initial attempt on the TExES. Results differed by the content area of the candidates. Analysis of variance results indicate significant differences between the five test groups with regard to number of courses taken F(4,139) = 9.334, p < .001 grade point average F(4,139) = 5.733, p < .001 and time between the last course taken F(4,139) = 6.135, p < .001. The three­-predictor model was statistically significant F(3,32) = 3.753, p = .02 for the History test group. The variable, upper-­level grade point average accounted for approximately 12% variance among scores within the History test group, and the variable months of time elapsed between last content area course work and the initial state content examination accounted for approximately 13% of variance among scores.

The purpose of this dissertation was twofold. First, the study sought to determine if the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) Reading score predicts success on the Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas (ExCET). Second, the study addressed the effect on individuals of color of raising the minimum TASP Reading score entrance requirement for admission to teacher preparation programs. Data were collected from the ExCET Office of a Carnegie I metropolitan university. The defined sample consisted of 961 participants who had a TASP Reading score and had taken an Elementary Comprehensive ExCET, an Elementary Professional Development ExCET or a Secondary Professional ExCET between September 1999 and January 2001. Linear Regression, Box Test, Predictive Discriminate Analysis, and frequency distribution tables were used for analyses. This investigation examined the effects of the independent variable of TASP Reading score on the performance of participants on the dependent variable, the ExCET. Four null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. The TASP Reading score was a statistically significant predictor for success on the Elementary Comprehensive ExCET, Elementary Professional Development ExCET, and the Secondary Professional Development ExCET. However, the Predictive Discriminate Analysis indicated that a TASP Reading score of 220 predicted that no candidates would fail the Elementary Comprehensive ExCET, 6 participants would fail the Elementary Professional Development ExCET and 19 participants would fail the Secondary Professional Development ExCET. Five hypotheses addressed the effect of raising the TASP Reading score to 250. Findings of four hypotheses showed that raising this admission standard would impact the number of individuals of color granted admission to the teacher preparation program. These results call for the recommendation that governing agencies address the impact of state teacher education program accreditation that often results in the policy of relying on the TASP Reading score as one of the primary admission standards for teacher education programs. The unintended outcome of raising the reading admission standard in the anticipation of continued state accreditation is a noticeable loss of candidates of colors, especially African American candidates.

This study uses teacher employment data provided by the State Board for Educator Certification to examine the similarities and differences between initial employment and attrition rates of teachers trained in three prevalent types of Texas teacher preparation programs; alternative certification programs (ACP), the centers for professional development of teachers (CPDT), and traditional certification programs (TCP). The population for the study includes all Texas teachers who completed training in these programs in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The study found that ACP participants gain employment as Texas public school teachers at a significantly higher rate than their CPDT and TCP trained peers in year-one after completion of their training. However, ACP completers experience higher attrition rates in each of the subsequent years investigated. The study concludes that the overall cumulative attrition rate of new teachers trained in these programs is not as pronounced as originally presumed, but that low production levels cannot keep up with the growing demand for new teachers. Teacher preparation program leaders must seek ways to recruit and train more teachers.

To determine professional and educational backgrounds of photography teachers in Texas secondary schools, a questionnaire was sent to all eighty-seven. Sixty-five responded. The study found that the majority (a) were not certified to teach industrial arts as required by the state; (b) taught only three classes of photography; (c) did not handle publication photography; (d) had less than the required twelve hours of photography education; (e) had some professional experience; and (f) planned to continue their photography education although their school systems did not require it. The study (a) concluded that students receive a basic, technical education in photography, but the program suffers from lack of money and administrative support; (b) recommended that the state agency reevaluate its approach to and implementation of the program.

While student populations are growing, the gatekeeping devices of teacher certification examinations prevent many who want and are trained to teach from entering the profession. If failing these exams predicted failure to teach well, blocking students who do not pass certification exams from entering the profession might be a well-reasoned policy. However, many studies indicate that there is little correlation between certification test scores and quality of teaching. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a program to improve the scores of Texas elementary preservice teachers on a required certification exam. The program consisted of one-on-one coaching of preservice teachers upon the completion of coursework and prior to their taking the state's certification exam. Subjects' scores on a representative form of the certification test were used as pre-treatment measures. The content of the treatment program was individualized for each subject and determined by the specific items missed by each subject on the representative form. The post-treatment measure was the subject's score on the certification exam. Scores on the representative form and on the certification examination were compared to determine if there were significant differences between scores of preservice teachers who had been coached and those who were not coached. Since subjects voluntarily enrolled in the treatment, initial differences between coached and uncoached groups were controlled through analysis of covariance and pairwise matching. Descriptive statistics, t-tests for dependent samples, repeated measures analysis of variance, and univariate analyses of variance and covariance all indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the scores on the certification test of coached and uncoached students. Coached students showed greater improvement in scores than uncoached, with Hispanic subjects showing greater improvement than Caucasian subjects. Analyses that examined the differences between the coached and uncoached subjects on the domain and competency scores that make up the raw scores failed to indicate the sources of the differences in raw scores.