Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The clinical teaching experience is one of the most important components of teacher preparation. Prior observational research has found that more effective mentors and schools with better professional climates are associated with better preparation for teacher candidates. We test these findings using an experimental assignment of teacher candidates to placement sites in two states. Candidates who were randomly assigned to higher quality placement sites experienced larger improvements in performance over the course of the clinical experience, as evaluated by field instructors (a.k.a university instructors). The findings suggest that improving clinical placement procedures can improve the teaching quality of candidates.

Keywords

clinical education student teaching teacher education/development experimental research

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. (2010). AACTE endorses NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel Report on Clinical Preparation. https://aacte.org/2010/11/aacte-endorses-ncate-blue-ribbon-panel-report-on-clinical-preparation/

American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. (2018). A pivot towards clinical practice, its lexicon, and the renewal of educator preparation: A report of the AACTE Clinical Practice Commission. http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/cpc-aactecpcreport.pdf

Anderson

L. M.

Stillman

J. A.

(2013). Student teaching’s contribution to preservice teacher development: A review of research focused on the preparation of teachers for urban and high-needs contexts. Review of Educational Research, 83(1), 3–69. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312468619

Bartanen

Kwok

(2020). Pre-service teacher quality and workforce entry (EdWorkingPaper No. 20-223). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai20-223.pdf

Bastian

K. C.

Lys

Pan

(2018). A framework for improvement: Analyzing performance-assessment scores for evidence-based teacher preparation program reforms. Journal of Teacher Education, 69(5), 448–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118755700

Bastian

K. C.

Patterson

K. M.

Carpenter

(2020). Placed for success: Which teachers benefit from high-quality student teaching placements? Educational Policy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904820951126

Borko

Mayfield

(1995). The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor in learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(5), 501–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/0742-051X(95)00008-8

Boyd

D. J.

Grossman

P. L.

Lankford

Loeb

Wyckoff

(2009). Teacher preparation and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 416–440. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373709353129

Burgess

Rawal

Taylor

E. S.

(2021). Teacher peer observation and student test scores: Evidence from a field experiment in English secondary schools. Journal of Labor Economics, 39(4), 1155–1186. https://doi.org/10.1086/712997

10.

Campbell

(2014). Quality teachers wanted: An examination of standards-based evaluation systems and school staffing practices in North Carolina middle schools [Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School]. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/td96k3484

11.

Campbell

S. L.

(2020). Ratings in Black and White: A quantcrit examination of race and gender in teacher evaluation reform. Race Ethnicity and Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2020.1842345

12.

Campbell

S. L.

Ronfeldt

(2018). Observational evaluation of teachers: Measuring more than we bargained for? American Educational Research Journal, 55(6), 1233–1267. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218776216

13.

Charner-Laird

Johnson

S. M.

Kraft

M. A.

Papay

J. P.

Reinhorn

S. K.

(2017). Gauging goodness of fit: Teachers’ responses to their instructional teams in high-poverty schools. American Journal of Education, 123(4), 553–584. https://doi.org/10.1086/692663

14.

Chen

Cowan

Goldhaber

Theobald

(2019). From the clinical experience to the classroom: Assessing the predictive validity of the Massachusetts candidate assessment of performance (CALDER Working Paper No. 223-1019). https://caldercenter.org/publications/clinical-experience-classroom-assessing-predictive-validity-massachusetts-candidate

15.

Clarke

Triggs

Nielsen

(2014). Cooperating teacher participation in teacher education: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 84(2), 163–202. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313499618

16.

Connor

Killmer

(1995, October 11-14). Evaluation of cooperating teacher effectiveness [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Midwest Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, United States. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED394950

17.

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. (n.d.). Standard 2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice. http://caepnet.org/standards/2022-itp/standard-2

18.

Cowan

Goldhaber

Jin

Theobald

(2020). Teacher licensure tests: Barrier or predictive tool? (CALDER Working Paper No. 245-1020). https://caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/WP%20245-1020_0.pdf

19.

Cowan

Goldhaber

Theobald

(2020). Performance evaluations as a measure of teacher effectiveness when standards differ: Accounting for variation across classrooms, schools, and districts (CALDER Working Paper No. 197-0618-2). https://caldercenter.org/publications/performance-evaluations-measure-teacher-effectiveness-when-standards-differ-accounting

20.

Cuenca

Schmeichel

Butler

B. M.

Dinkelman

Nichols

J. R.

Jr. (2011). Creating a “third space” in student teaching: Implications for the university supervisor’s status as outsider. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(7), 1068–1077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.05.003

21.

Florida Administrative Code. (2011). 6A-5.065: The Educator Accomplished Practices. https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleno.asp?id=6A-5.065

22.

Florida Department of Education. (2019). The Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPs). http://www.fldoe.org/teaching/professional-dev/the-fl-educator-accomplished-practices.stml

23.

Gagnon

D. J.

Mattingly

M. J.

(2015). Rates of beginning teachers: Examining one indicator of school quality in an equity context. Journal of Educational Research, 108(3), 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2013.878300

24.

Ganser

(2002). How teachers compare the roles of cooperating teacher and mentor. Educational Forum, 66(4), 380–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131720208984858

25.

Gareis

C. R.

Grant

L. W.

(2014). The efficacy of training cooperating teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 39(April), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.12.007

26.

Gitomer

D. H.

Martínez

J. F.

Battey

Hyland

N. E.

(2021). Assessing the assessment: Evidence of reliability and validity in the edTPA. American Educational Research Journal, 58(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219890608

27.

Glenn

W. J.

(2006). Model versus mentor: Defining the necessary qualities of the effective cooperating teacher. Teacher Education Quarterly, 33(1), 85–95. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ795211

28.

Goldhaber

Cowan

Theobald

(2017). Evaluating prospective teachers: Testing the predictive validity of the edTPA. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(4), 377–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487117702582

29.

Goldhaber

Krieg

J. M.

Theobald

(2017). Does the match matter? Exploring whether student teaching experiences affect teacher effectiveness. American Educational Research Journal, 54(2), 325–359. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217690516

30.

Goldhaber

Krieg

J. M.

Theobald

(2020). Effective like me? Does having a more productive mentor improve the productivity of mentees? Labour Economics, 63(April), 101792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101792

31.

Goldhaber

Krieg

J. M.

Naito

Theobald

(2020). Making the most of student teaching: The importance of mentors and scope for change. Education Finance and Policy, 15(3), 581–591. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00305

32.

Goldhaber

Quince

Theobald

(2019). Teacher quality gaps in US public schools: Trends, sources, and implications. Phi Delta Kappan, 100(8), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721719846883

33.

Graham

(2006). Conditions for successful field experiences: Perceptions of CTs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(8), 1118–1129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.07.007

34.

Greenberg

Pomerance

Walsh

(2011). Student teaching in the United States. National Council on Teacher Quality. https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Student_Teaching_United_States_NCTQ_Report

35.

Harris

D. N.

Sass

T. R.

(2014). Skills, productivity and the evaluation of teacher performance. Economics of Education Review, 40(June), 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.03.002

36.

A. D.

Kane

T. J.

(2013). The reliability of classroom observations by school personnel. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

37.

Hoffman

J. V.

Wetzel

M. M.

Maloch

Greeter

Taylor

DeJulio

Vlach

S. K.

(2015). What can we learn from studying the coaching interactions between CTs and preservice teachers? A literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 52(November), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2015.09.004

38.

Kane

T. J.

Taylor

E. S.

Tyler

J. H.

Wooten

A. L.

(2011). Identifying effective classroom practices using student achievement data. Journal of Human Resources, 46(3), 587–613. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhr.2011.0010

39.

Kraft

Papay

Chi

(2020). Teacher skill development: Evidence from performance ratings by principals. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 39(2), 315–347. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22193

40.

Krieg

J. M.

Theobald

Goldhaber

(2016). A foot in the door: Exploring the role of student teaching assignments in teachers’ initial job placements. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2), 364–388. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716630739

41.

Mansfield

(2015). Teacher quality and student inequality. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(3), 751–788. https://doi.org/10.1086/679683

42.

Matsko

K. K.

Ronfeldt

Green Nolan

Klugman

Reininger

Brockman

S. L.

(2018). Cooperating teacher as model and coach: What leads to student teachers’ perceptions of preparedness? Journal of Teacher Education, 71(1), 41–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118791992

43.

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2010). Transforming teacher education through clinical practice: A national strategy to prepare effective teachers (Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on clinical preparation and partnerships for improved student learning). http://www.highered.nysed.gov/pdf/NCATECR.pdf

44.

National Council on Teacher Quality. (2017). A closer look at student teaching: Undergraduate secondary programs. https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/US_2017_ST_Findings

45.

National Council on Teacher Quality. (2020). Student teaching/clinical practice national results: State teacher policy database [Data set]. https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/national/Student-Teaching/Clinical-Practice–81

46.

Papay

J. P.

Kraft

M. A.

(2015). Productivity returns to experience in the teacher labor market: Methodological challenges and new evidence on long-term career improvement. Journal of Public Economics, 130(October), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2015.02.008

47.

Papay

J. P.

Taylor

E. S.

Tyler

J. H.

Laski

M. E.

(2020). Learning job skills from colleagues at work: Evidence from a field experiment using teacher performance data. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 12(1), 359–388. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20170709

48.

Rice

J. K.

(2010). The impact of teacher experience: Examining the evidence and policy implications (CALDER Brief No. 11). https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/33321/1001455-The-Impact-of-Teacher-Experience.PDF

49.

Rivkin

S. G.

Hanushek

E. A.

Kain

J. F.

(2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73(2), 417–458. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0262.2005.00584.x

50.

Ronfeldt

(2012). Where should student teachers learn to teach? Effects of field placement school characteristics on teacher retention and effectiveness. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373711420865

51.

Ronfeldt

(2015). Field placement schools and instructional effectiveness. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(4), 304–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487115592463

52.

Ronfeldt

Bardelli

Truwit

Mullman

Schaaf

Baker

J. C.

(2020a). Improving preservice teachers’ feelings of preparedness to teach through recruitment of instructionally effective and experienced cooperating teachers: A randomized experiment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(4), 551–575. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720954183

53.

Ronfeldt

Brockman

Campbell

(2018). Does cooperating teachers’ instructional effectiveness improve preservice teachers’ future performance? Educational Researcher, 47(7), 405–418. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X18782906

54.

Ronfeldt

Matsko

K. K.

Nolan

H. G.

Reininger

(2018). Who knows if our teachers are prepared? Three different perspectives on graduates’ instructional readiness and the features of preservice preparation that predict them (CEPA Working Paper No.18-01). https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/who-knows-if-our-teachers-are-prepared-three-different-perspectives-graduates-instructional-readiness-and-features-preservice-preparation-predict-them

55.

Ronfeldt

Matsko

K. K.

Nolan

H. G.

Reininger

(2020). Three different measures of graduates’ instructional readiness and the features of preservice preparation that predict them. Journal of Teacher Education, 72(1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487120919753

56.

St. John

Goldhaber

Krieg

Theobald

(2018). How the match gets made: Exploring student teacher placements across teacher education programs, districts, and schools (CALDER Working Paper No. 111018). https://caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/CALDER%20WP%20204-1018-1.pdf

57.

Steinberg

M. P.

Garrett

(2016). Classroom composition and measured teacher performance: What do teacher observation scores really measure? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2), 293–317. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373715616249

58.

Steinberg

M. P.

Sartain

(2015). Does teacher evaluation improve school performance? Experimental evidence from Chicago’s Excellence in Teaching Project. Education Finance and Policy, 10(4), 535–572. https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP_a_00173

59.

Steinberg

M. P.

Sartain

(2020). What explains the race gap in teacher performance ratings? Evidence from Chicago public schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(1), 60–82. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720970204

60.

Taylor

E. S.

Tyler

J. H.

(2012). The effect of evaluation on teacher performance. American Economic Review, 102(7), 3628–3651. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.7.3628

61.

Vagi

Pivovarova

Barnard

(2019). Dynamics of preservice teacher quality. Teaching and Teacher Education, 85(October), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.06.005

62.

Whitehurst

Chingos

M. M.

Lindquist

K. M.

(2014). Evaluating teachers with classroom observations. Brown Center on Education Policy, Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Evaluating-Teachers-with-Classroom-Observations.pdf

63.

Zeichner

K. M.

(2009). Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203878767

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.35 MB

Room for Improvement? Mentor Teachers and the Evolution of Teacher Preservice Clinical Evaluations

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material