This research had three main purposes. The first was to determine some of the major characteristics of elementary teachers. Second was to see how student teachers and supervising teachers perceive the importance of certain characteristics of elementary teachers. The third was to discover what changes result in the perceptions of student teachers as to the importance of these characteristics after completing student teaching.

This research study was undertaken to add a new dimension to studies concerned with the relationship between the National Teacher Examinations and teaching success. Since the National Teacher Examinations have become such a widely used measure in the teacher certification process, and particularly because of the apparent movement toward the adoption of the National Teacher Examinations as part of the teacher certification process in the State of Texas, it was desirable to investigate their value as an instrument for the prediction of success in teaching.

The problem of this study was the extent of the relationship between the classroom verbal behavior of the cooperating teacher and that of the student teacher. The purpose of this study was to determine if the student teacher tends to imitate the verbal classroom behavior of the cooperating teacher.

The problem of this study was to determine the difference in attitude and anxieties toward the teaching profession of beginning teachers entering public education in Texas who have been through a semester-long intern program as opposed to those who have gone through a traditional eight-week student teaching program. Purposes of the study were to provide assessment data for planning and delivering preservice training experiences to prospective teachers, to compare similarities and differences in the attitudes of prospective teachers who have been through the intern program with those who have been in traditional student teaching, and to provide useful information to colleges and universities concerning the effectiveness of their teacher education programs. The targeted study groups were 22 fall semester interns and a comparison group of 27 fall semester traditional student teachers. All participants were seeking secondary certification. The study was conducted in the fall of 1994. The groups were matched according to gender, chronological age, race designation, grade-point-average, and level of family income. In summary, the findings of this study indicate that only two of the six research questions proved to be statistically significant. It is interesting to note, however, that individually a significant percentage of both of the groups showed a reduction in anxiety and a significant percentage of both groups showed a reduced positive attitude toward teaching as a profession. It is only for the student teachers, however, that the results were statistically significant for both tests.

End-of-the-semester teaching evaluations hold consequential weight in professors’ career outcomes, which can be problematic if these evaluations are affected by gender bias. This research sought to examine gender bias in evaluations of professors through two experimental studies (via a 15-minute online lecture and a university-sanctioned online course), offering two ecologically valid manipulations of professor gender. Student gender and field of study were examined as moderators of this gender bias, as effects may be more pronounced among male raters compared to female raters, or among raters in majors that underrepresent women compared to raters in other majors. Findings revealed an effect of professor’s gender in the opposite direction: On average, students rated female professors more positively than they did male professors. Student gender and field of study did not affect professor ratings, nor did they moderate the effect of professor gender.

Thesis advisor: Curt Dudley-Marling / As a result of the standards and accountability reforms of the past two decades, heightened attention has been focused upon student learning in the K-12 classrooms, classroom teacher practice, and teacher preparation. This has led to the acknowledgement of limitations of traditional field practicum and that these learning experiences are not well understood (Bullough et al., 2003; Clift & Brady, 2005). Alternative models for student teaching, including those that foster social learning experiences, have been developed. However, research is necessary to understand the implications of these models for preservice teacher learning. Drawing on sociocultural theoretical frameworks and ethnographic perspectives (Gee and Green, 1998), this qualitative research study examined the learning experiences of a cohort of eight undergraduate preservice secondary science teachers who cotaught with eight cooperating teachers for their full practicum semester. In this model, interns planned and taught alongside multiple cooperating teachers and other interns. This study centers on the social and cultural learning that occurred within this networked model and the ways that the interns developed as high school science teachers within a coteaching community of practice (Wenger, 1998). This study utilized the following data sources: Intern and cooperating teachers interviews, field observations, meeting recordings, and program documentation. Analysis focused on community and interpersonal planes of development (Rogoff, 1995) in order understand of the nature of the learning experiences and the learning that was afforded through participant interactions. Several conclusions were made after the data were analyzed. On a daily basis, the interns participated in a wide range of cultural practices and in the activities of the community. The coteaching model challenged the idiosyncratic nature of traditional student teaching models by creating opportunities to learn across various classroom contexts. In different classrooms, there were markedly different constructions of teacher practice and participant roles. The implementation of the coteaching model also resulted in the creation of an interconnected network of colleagues. In the resulting learning community, coteachers supported one another's developing practice and critically examined their shared practice. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / The clinical experience of future urban teachers is increasingly regarded as one of the most important aspects of teacher preparation (NCATE, 2010; NRC, 2010). However, there is widespread agreement that further knowledge must be acquired on what constitutes rich clinical experience, and on the influence of such learning opportunities especially in urban, high-needs contexts (Anderson & Stillman, 2013; Levine, 2006; Picus, Monk, & Knight, 2012). This dissertation aims to increase our understanding of clinical experience. Based on sociocultural and socio-constructivist perspectives, and drawing on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theories of learning within communities of practice, this dissertation employed qualitative research methods to examine the phenomenon of content coaching during an urban teacher residency program. This dissertation argues that residency content coaching provided a context within which residents could integrate what they were learning about “ambitious teaching” (Lampert & Graziani, 2009; Newmann & Wehlage, 1993) into their own practice through ongoing negotiations with their coaches. Coaching interactions were by and large responsive to individual resident’s learning needs, and guided residents to begin to place their students’ learning at the center of decision-making when planning, teaching, and assessing. The dissertation further investigates the actual and aspirational characteristics of coaching in this context. Overall findings suggest that content coaching addresses several persistent problems of traditional pre-service fieldwork supervision (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Featherstone, 2007), and offers a more coherent approach. Consequently, this dissertation contributes to our collective understanding of clinical experience in preparing teachers to teach ambitiously in urban classrooms. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the practices utilized by college supervisors of secondary student teachers in Kentucky. A mailed questionnaire was employed to determine the emphasis of practices of the college supervisor pertaining to student teachers, cooperating teachers, and cooperating school administrators. The purposes of this study included the following: 1. To determine the status of Kentucky college and university supervisors of secondary student teachers. 2. To compare the practices of Kentucky college supervisors with practices recommended by national authorities in the field of student teaching. 3. To compare the practices reported by general supervisors with practices reported by special supervisors. 4. To compare the supervisory practices as reported in Texas in 1968 to the practices reported currently in Kentucky. The findings pertaining to the status of the Kentucky college supervisor included the following: 1. Seventy-one percent of Kentucky college supervisors reported having a total of more than ten years teaching experience at different levels. Twenty-eight percent had more than twenty years full-time teaching experience. 2. Sixty-four percent of the supervisors reported twenty-one or more student teachers as a full supervisory load. 3. Fifty-four percent of college supervisors at state schools and 39 percent at private schools hold the rank of assistant professor. 4. Fifty-two percent of college supervisors at state schools and 36 percent at private schools hold the earned doctorate. The findings pertaining to the practices of the Kentucky college supervisor of secondary student teachers included the following: 1. The null hypothesis that no significant differences exist between the emphasis of supervisory practices by the state presidents of the Association of Teacher Educators and by Kentucky college supervisors was retained. 2. The null hypothesis that no significant differences exist between the emphasis of supervisory practices of special and general supervisors was retained. 3. The null hypothesis, that no significant differences would exist between the utilization of supervisory practices reported by Texas supervisors in 1968 and such utilization by Kentucky supervisors, was rejected. The conclusions of the study included the following: 1. Kentucky supervisors were utilizing the practices recommended by national authorities. 2. Special and general supervisors in Kentucky were utilizing recommended practices equally well. 3. Kentucky supervisors were utilizing recommended practices to a higher degree than did Texas supervisors in 1968.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the BASICS program. The program, Building and Applying Strategies for Initial Cognitive Skills, was developed by the Institute for Staff Development of Miami, Florida, for educating teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents in techniques considered essential in helping pre-school, primary grade, and special education children develop initial cognitive skills. The study was undertaken to determine the effects of the program on the self-concept, experimental beliefs, dogmatism, and pupil control ideology of in-service elementary school teachers who participated in it as an elective graduate level course. The design of the study was the non-equivalent control group design. Twelve subjects who volunteered to participate in the program formed the experimental group. Twelve other subjects were randomly selected from a graduate-level class in elementary school curriculum development to form the control group. The instructor who was in charge of the BASICS program taught the class from which the control subjects were selected. The study was conducted during the first six-week summer term of 1975 at North Texas State University. The two groups were administered pre and post the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the Personal Beliefs Inventory (PBI), the Teacher Practices Inventory (TPI), the Dogmatism Scale Form E, and the Pupil Control Ideology (PCI) Form. The pre- and post-test data obtained were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U as a one-tailed test.

The demands placed upon stakeholders of the public education system have become more and more compelling with each passing year. With the success of schools and students at stake, it is imperative to examine multiple facets of the public education structure. One of the most important aspects of this process is the development of preservice teachers entering the classroom. This study initially chronicled the history of teacher education and state licensure. Subsequently, standards enforced by the Tennessee Department of Education and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education were also explored to gain information about the guidelines and criteria required for accrediting teacher education and licensure programs. Further information in regard to teacher education was examined through current trends and issues that affect classroom teachers. The teacher education program criteria from 6 Tennessee higher education institutions were also reviewed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of classroom teachers about effective higher education programs. Twelve K-6 classroom teachers with 5 or fewer years of teaching experience were interviewed to gain insight about the opinions of effective components of teacher education programs. This information was examined to explore specific program requirements. The analysis of the data collected in this study introduced several themes and common patterns. Most commonly, participants expressed the importance of a substantial field experience within the teacher education program. The value of relating content and theoretical approach to the practical application of the classroom was also noted as a priority. Participants reported the most effective teacher education programs as those that formulated a realistic portrayal of the classroom setting. These responses illustrated the significance of a hands-on approach to teacher education training and development.