This study examines the relationship between a preservice teacher's early field experiences and ratings given by their cooperating teachers during student teaching. Educator preparation programs have long been tasked with providing quality education to future teachers as they prepare them for a career in the P-12 classroom. Part of this…

Teacher educators worry about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted what and how teacher candidates are able to learn in P-12 field experiences; yet it is possible to view this period as one of opportunity rather than limitation. This commentary argues for a conception of field experience as practice rather than context. When applied across…

Clinical practice has long been an integral component of teacher education. In the past two decades, however, the call has intensified for more purposeful, inclusive, integrated, and reflective clinical experiences for teacher candidates learning how to teach and, more broadly, what it means to be a teacher. This article aims to offer a conceptual…

Today's schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of…

The peripherality of the university supervisor during the student teaching experience has often been considered extraneous to the work of preparing preservice teachers. Despite the supervisor's potential to support learning, the low status of supervision in the preparation of prospective teachers has led to a lack of commitment in preparing,…

Describes Mills College's graduate-level teacher credential program, addressing the appropriateness of student teaching placements in relation to the aims and ideology of the teacher education program and examining the four dimensions of fieldwork as a learning context (nested learning, blending principles, safety, and reflective focus).…

Explores the epistemological shift embedded in one preservice program that puts extended teaching experience first in the process of learning to teach. Emphasizes the role and power of experience in learning to teach. It responds to Jones's paper on the 10 dichotomies in teacher education (SP 527 128), relating them to the notion of early teaching…

A description is given of the Regional Partnership Program, a field-responsive, center-specific model established at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) designed to oversee clinical field experiences for student teachers. This cooperative partnership calls for a resident tenure track professor to be placed in a geographic area away from the main…

Student teachers are seen to progress through three stages of concern, and many do not reach the third stage during student teaching. Implications for supervising teachers are presented. A principal responsibility for student teacher development lies with supervising instructors. (MP)

Critiques papers from a symposium on student teaching placement, agreeing with much of their content (e.g., student teaching is critical to preservice teacher education, and cooperating teachers are key in determining the quality of student teacher learning), and discussing limitations of the traditional structure of student teaching and the…

Presents an introduction by the journal editor to a special issue that features the work of faculty and students at Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, who were involved in restructuring their teacher-preparation program. At the heart of the restructuring was the specific goal of emphasizing early fieldwork experiences. (SM)

Compared student teachers' perceptions of three different junior field experiences offered at a state university. Surveys of students at the end of their junior field experiences indicated that all students believed the experiences were beneficial to their preparation for student teaching. Students in the two nontraditional experience programs…

The shell game is a metaphor for a selection and retention process that should be established to counsel students as they try to earn a teacher's degree and teaching certification. This process, which involves taking required courses, participating in field work, and self-evaluation, is described. (RM)

This paper describes the Chicago Area Directors of Student Teachers (CADST), formed in 1969 as an outgrowth of the Chicago Consortium, which was designed to initiate cooperation among institutions of higher education in the Chicago area. Members of CADST work together to share ideas and deal with issues relevant to working with preservice…

Compared two groups of preservice teachers participating in a field experience based on cooperating/mentor teachers' supervisory practice. Both groups received traditional orientation to student teaching and supervision. The experimental group's teachers had received in-depth training in supervision using the Praxis III/Pathwise framework. Results…