Institutions that prepare teachers have a clear need to extend their programs and assessments beyond current initiatives and to provide a greater focus on the intangible qualities of an "effective" teacher. This study deals with how a college of education that is part of a mid-sized north-eastern university developed and implemented a…

Creating the most effective and well-educated teachers possible has been always the clear focus of the Teacher Education Department at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK). During the academic year of 1999-2000, a tripartite task force was created for the College of Education at UNK to identify areas in need of revision or elimination from…

This paper describes an effort to provide prospective teachers opportunities to better understand African American male students and better focus on how they learn mathematics. Prospective teachers spent 15 hours over an eight week span mentoring and tutoring African American males without the guise of practicing teachers. Qualitative data drawn…

When preservice teacher programs are failing to adequately prepare collegiate students towards becoming thriving teachers, what can be done? After many complaints were voiced from my student body, a survey was constructed, which revealed student satisfaction levels were lowest in the following areas: 1) The variety of opportunities to teach…

Cooperating teachers rated student teachers on ability to work with children having learning disabilities and/or emotional/behavior disorders. No significant differences were found between students with prior special education field experience and those without. Further research is needed to identify training methods that increase ability to work…