The purpose of this study was to investigate middle level preservice teacher self-efficacy beliefs in general, as well as in the domain of reading. The participants were 8 middle school preservice teachers enrolled in a state-mandated reading methods course and student teaching over the course of a year. As part of the yearlong internship, the…

These studies explore two mentor teachers' practice of supervision in a Professional Development School (PDS) setting and the meaning that these two mentors attach to their own work as mentors of prospective teachers. Through prolonged participant observation and in-depth interviewing of both interns and mentors, this study captures the unfolding…

Field experiences and clinical practice are considered the most important and most influential component of teacher preparation programs. The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs (NCATE) has established six standards to measure the effectiveness of teacher education programs; field experiences and clinical practice…

This paper reports on data from a 4-year, cross-sectional study of preservice teachers who participated in a yearlong Professional Development School internship/student teaching experience. Preservice teachers worked in classrooms with mentor teachers for two 8-week placements during the fall semester and returned to student teach with the same…

This study explored the experiences of six preservice teachers who participated as interns in a Professional Development School (PDS), examining how they understood and made sense of their experience of learning teach in a PDS context. Researchers used a phenomenological case study with narrative inquiry, collecting data from interviews, field…

This phenomenological case study explored how preservice teachers in a Professional Development School (PDS) internship program experienced supervision. It examined how the interns portrayed and interpreted practices that emerged from the PDS context, how they understood supervision, what the process looked like from their perspective, and what…

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) Alliance for Tomorrow's Teachers is a collaborative effort among the University of North Florida, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, the Clay and Duval County (Florida) school systems, and the Clay and Duval County teachers' unions. The goals of the program are to: (1) restructure the…

Teacher preparation typically follows one of three paths, including a professional development school (PDS) model developed by university and P-12 school faculty. Regardless of the program model, it is a research interest to determine the extent to which courses and field experience can prompt preservice teachers to advocate for the elimination of…