Pre-service teachers (PSTs) need sound Knowledge About Language (KAL), both for their own professional communication and for their teaching practice. In the longer term, enhanced KAL will benefit our graduates in their implementation of the Australian Curriculum. This paper reports on work with First Year PSTs at one Australian university. We…

Teacher residencies are surfacing as a promising model for teacher preparation. One such residency program--Collaboration and Reflection to Enhance Atlanta Teacher Effectiveness (CREATE)--seeks to raise student achievement in local high-needs schools by increasing the effectiveness and retention of both new and veteran educators. CREATE aims to…

A component of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) (PL 107-110) is its emphasis on the importance of systematic and explicit instruction in early reading using practices that are grounded in scientific research. The Reading First legislation (Title I, Part B, Subpart 1) within NCLB is designed to support state and local education…

This paper describes the third phase of a multi-year study that has been assessing professional knowledge and perceptions of beginning teacher education students. This phase of the study reports on responses to a questionnaire designed to compare student knowledge across cohorts and institutions. The data reported here are from a total of 291…

The purpose of this study was to determine the most effective way to prepare teacher candidates to work with English learners and students with disabilities by surveying teacher candidate perceptions regarding their preparation. A forty-item instrument was developed probing teacher candidates? perceptions of their level of preparation for working…

A study examined students' reasons for, and implications of, choosing a traditional student teaching program or a field-based program of preservice teacher education. The traditional student teaching program and the field-based program were offered concurrently for a short period of time at Texas A&M University--Commerce. Students enrolled in…

The purpose of this study was to analyze three roles related to student teaching: elementary school student teachers, supervising teachers, and university supervisors. Analysis served two purposes: (1) to identify role perceptions of each of the three groups; and (2) to determine whether significant differences exist in the perceived roles, as…

The paper describes the changes in the higher education system in the Czech Republic after 1989. The reasons for the decrease in the interest in studying engineering fields are analyzed. The ways of improving this situation, used at the Technical University of Brno, are mentioned. In particular, the new interdisciplinary study program in…

This study investigated the possibility of identifying groups of basic educational attitudes of preservice elementary education majors who had few field experiences prior to their taking upper level education courses. The attitudes investigated pertained to beliefs about classroom management, student trust, and teacher discipline. Through factor…

Four problems were investigated in a study of factors contributing to teacher shortages: (1) to identify the perceptions of high school seniors, preservice teachers, and inservice teachers toward the teaching profession as a career opportunity; (2) to determine differences in perceptions of these groups categorized on the basis of background…

The present study aimed at identifying the democratic practices that can be followed in the EFL university classes and investigating their effect on the students' attitude towards the English language learning at the postgraduate level. A democratic practices list was identified. These practices were followed in EFL classes all the academic year…

This publication presents an overview and summary of the results of a survey of teacher education students. The survey is one component of a larger project to increase the number of minority teachers. The questionnaire was designed to probe the academic and socioeconomic backgrounds of teacher education students as well as their attitudes and…

This report presents a profile of students at Utah State University who are considering becoming secondary school teachers. Data were obtained from two questionnaires: one administered upon the student's entry to the first required course in the secondary education program and the other when the student exited from the course. A summary is given…

Presents a profile of teacher education students, focusing on students' demographic characteristics, their reasons for entering teaching, their attitudes toward teaching as a profession, and commitment to teaching as a lifelong career. Implications for reform are considered. (Author/GLR)

A research study addressed the question: "If new and different information about some aspect of reality can produce attitude changes, can this be empirically verified in the case of foundational studies in teacher education?" Four hundred ninety education students, during the first two weeks of their required education classes, responded to two…