Three major pathways for teacher preparation and certification exist in the United States to recruit and train effective teachers, including traditional, alternative, and teacher residency programs. There is a growing but limited body of research on teacher effectiveness of educators who complete teacher residency programs and the factors of the…

As in other highly skilled careers, licensure requirements were put in place to ensure that candidates that enter the teaching profession are competent and effective. Unfortunately, licensure requirements can change from year to year and vary depending on the subject area in which a candidate plans to teach, making the pathway to obtaining full…

Data on content knowledge and self-efficacy beliefs were collected from 41 elementary preservice teachers enrolled in a mathematics methods course. Correlational analysis was used to determine whether a relationship existed between elementary preservice teachers' mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and two factors representing mathematics teacher…

The primary purpose of this report is to provide preliminary evidence on the measurement properties for newly designed assessments of content knowledge for teaching (CKT) in elementary reading language arts (RLA) and mathematics. The goal is to offer the CKT tests through the "PRAXIS"® assessment. Additional analyses were conducted to…

The purpose of this report is to examine the performance of assessment items designed to measure elementary teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT) science as part of the ETS® Educator Series. The Elementary Education: CKT Science assessment is 1 component of licensure examination through the PRAXIS® assessments. The Elementary Education:…

Programs that prepare elementary teachers have a daunting responsibility -- they are readying the people who will teach children reading and numeracy, build a foundation in STEM and social studies subjects, all while providing many children's first introduction to formal schooling. By rising to this challenge, programs may also help a more diverse…

The current chapter focuses on philosophical and scientific developments in the assessment of teacher knowledge. The goal is to provide an overview of major developments in the assessment of teacher knowledge and to illustrate those developments with representative and significant efforts. The authors made evaluative judgments of importance based…

Studies investigating teacher candidate performance on traditional assessments of content knowledge place emphasis on just one of many skills needed to be an effective foreign language teacher; they also fail to explain why many teacher candidates with advanced oral proficiency struggle in the classroom and why some with less advanced language…

The objective of this study was to compare the relationships between the subtests of the Interactive Computer Interview System and the ETS "Praxis II" Principles of Learning and Teaching examination. In particular, this study compares scores on the ICIS instrument subtests to those gathered from the same classroom teachers on the…

This study compares knowledge as measured by grade point averages and Praxis II scores between first-year special education teachers who completed one university's alternative teacher preparation program (ATTP) and those who completed the university's traditional teacher preparation program (TTPP). A total of 33 teachers, 15 from the ATTP and 18…

Teach For America (TFA) and the Teaching Fellows programs are an important and growing source of teachers of hard-to-staff subjects in high-poverty schools, but comprehensive evidence of their effectiveness has been limited. This report presents findings from the first large-scale random assignment study of secondary math teachers from these…

Teach For America (TFA) and the Teaching Fellows programs are an important and growing source of teachers of hard-to-staff subjects in high-poverty schools, but comprehensive evidence of their effectiveness has been limited. This report presents findings from the first large-scale random assignment study of secondary math teachers from these…

This report focuses on two aspects of teacher supply and quality: (a) the under-representation of racial/ethnic minorities, especially African Americans in the teaching pool, and (b) teacher candidates' performance on licensure assessments, including general skills tests in reading, writing, and mathematics (known as Praxis I[R]) and selected…

This study concerns the "highly qualified teacher" provisions of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA," 2002), as reauthorized, and other policies at the federal, state and local levels, which have aimed to elevate the content knowledge of teachers. This examination of "Praxis II" score trends…

This qualitative, longitudinal study documents the academic and professional journeys of 8 college graduates or "scholars" of the Paterson Teachers for Tomorrow (PT4T) program. Data from this study further contribute to the growing body of research focusing on preparing diverse candidates--particularly those from urban and low…