Student teaching can be one of the most important experiences pre-service teachers have during their teacher preparation program. This study sought to examine and enhance how mentor teachers impact student teacher development during the final clinical teaching experience. Its purpose was to improve the clinical teaching practice for both mentors…

Each year the expectation of teachers by many politicians, educational administrators, and the media is to raise the academic performance of students. This is a reasonable expectation since teachers have the most consistent contact with students and control over the learning environment and its components. Standardized tests, the teacher's report…

At the center of teacher preparation is the student teaching placement experience. However, research on student teacher placements often overlooks the nuanced perceptions and attitudes of student teachers (STs). These factors significantly influence educator outcomes and programmatic success. This research delves into the attitudes and perceptions…

Mathematics teacher education programs vary widely in the learning opportunities they offer to prospective teachers. Improving the quality of teacher education necessitates an understanding of which of these learning opportunities have the largest impact on teacher preparedness. To understand this, there must be a meaningful method for assessing…

The nationwide teacher shortage has led to a shortage of fully trained teacher to hire leaving schools more open to hiring nontraditional teachers. Within this study, a nontraditional teacher is one who did not complete a formal teacher education process that included student teaching. These teachers are left to rely on their mentoring process for…

Teacher attrition has been around since the beginning of American education. Teacher attrition is problematic to the success of students' academic achievement. One perceived way to reduce teacher attrition is through better training during the pre-service phase. The purpose of this study was to explore university-based teacher education programs…

National attention is focused on the state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in public schools. In order to ensure that students have access to high quality STEM education it is essential that teacher candidates are well prepared and confident to deliver challenging content and train students in necessary skills…

This qualitative collective case study investigates how mainstream preservice secondary teachers in a university-based program learn to teach emergent bilinguals in their student teaching. Despite the facts that emergent bilinguals are the fastest growing but lowest performing student population in the U.S. and secondary emergent bilinguals are…

Aspiring teachers seeking licensure in New York State are required to prepare a portfolio of materials demonstrating their readiness to teach during their student teaching clinical experience, as per edTPA (a teacher performance assessment developed by Stanford University). This research considered how cooperating teachers in the student teaching…

More than 50% of novice educators leave the profession in the first 5 years of service. Novice educators were defined as educators with 5 or fewer years of teaching experience. The State of Tennessee has estimated the cost for that decision to around $28,000.00 per teacher for each local educational authority. Many researchers believe mentoring…

This qualitative study explores the impact of experienced teachers' stories on pre-service teachers. Specifically, it examines what stories pre-service teachers hear and remember, if/how those stories impact thoughts or actions, and what factors influence impact. Analyzing pre-service teachers' reactions to stories and utilizing their direct…

The preparation of secondary teacher candidates through traditional (n = 13) or alternative (n = 15) options did not statistically significantly impact knowledge, skills or dispositions. Results for content knowledge, as measured at entrance to the program based on the Pre-Professional Skills Test, indicate that candidates who entered the…

This qualitative research, completed through the implementation of a case study, was conducted to explore the benefits of children's literature core-curriculum alignment with preservice teacher practicum experience. The significance of the study was based on four foundation issues: personal reading attitude, addressing the value of using…

This study examined graduates' and completers' perceptions of the effectiveness of Marshall University's alternative certification programs, the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certificate (PBTC), from 1999-2010. This non-experimental descriptive cross-sectional study used the "Spivy Survey of MAT and PBTC Program…

The purpose of this collective case study was to investigate the transitions of three effective teachers of literacy from pre-service to in-service teaching. As their university supervisor, I selected these students out of a group of pre-service teachers assigned to me for supervision during their eight-week student teaching requirement, based…