This research critically examines the efforts of the British State and the various churches to re-vision the character and status of elementary school teachers in Ireland between the 1830s and the 1920s. In a climate of regular political revolution and denominational hostility, the Westminster government and all churches were anxious to promote…

In 2009 New York State began an initiative to improve teaching and learning through the implementation of new teacher certification exams. The Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST) replaced the much-maligned Liberal Arts and Sciences Exam (LAST) that had been in a legal battle with minority test takers since 1996. Billed as a "basic test of…

Initial teacher education programme and paper assessments need to encompass university degree requirements and attest to student mastery of teacher professional competencies. This article reports one aspect of an investigation of the nature and principles employed in the design of assessments for a three-year Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)…

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse a specific educational policy in a national context: INICIA (In Spanish: Start) in Chile. Enacted in 2008, this policy evaluates beginning teachers at the national level before they start their professional careers in schools. The INICIA has been categorised as a certification policy to measure what…

Background: Inadequacy of authority-based defensive teaching and summative and product-based evaluation such as certification and observation measures in providing information about the actual teaching teachers do was an inspiration in this study to design an inventory for formative and process-based evaluation of teacher competences. This study…

The edTPA is a performance-based assessment of teacher candidates created by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE) and nationally scored by Pearson Education. It is also promoted by American Association of Colleges of Teacher Educators (AACTE) as a "standards-based assessment." As of the spring of 2018, the…

Teachers need knowledge and skills to make effective use of the growing variety of media and technology texts and tools available for use in elementary and secondary education. For this reason, pedagogical media competencies are highly relevant for teachers' professional development. The theory of media pedagogical competencies is first defined…

The study compared candidates in a 4-year undergraduate program for secondary mathematics and science teaching, based on the UTeach model, with candidates in a 1-year postbaccalaureate program at the same institution. Candidates in the undergraduate program participated in a partnership of university mathematics, science, and education departments…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to measure music educators' ("N" = 9) self-perceptions of their use of interpersonal skills. Participants rated themselves on 32 statements included on the "My Use of Interpersonal Skills Inventory" in pre- and posttest formats. Participants participated in a 4-week period of weekly…

ELTeach is an online professional development program developed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) in collaboration with National Geographic Learning. The ELTeach program consists of two courses: English-for-Teaching and Professional Knowledge for English Language Teaching (ELT). Each course includes a coordinated assessment leading to a score…

The middle-grades program at a state university recently underwent a program redesign in an effort to ensure that teacher candidates are well prepared to teach in today's contemporary middle schools while maintaining the principles and standards established by the Association of Middle Level Educators. The purpose of this article is to explain the…

Through a mixed-methods study, teacher educators investigated recent graduates' perceptions of their preparation program. Beginning special education teachers completed surveys and indicated (a) their level of preparation and confidence associated with 25 core competencies, (b) the most beneficial components of their preparation program, (c)…

In teacher education programmes, text-based portfolios are generally used to assess student-teachers' competence as new teachers. However, striking discrepancies are known to exist between the competencies reflected in a written portfolio and the competencies observed in actual classroom practice. Multiple assessments should be used to provide a…

The past year has seen the emergence of a broad consensus on raising the standards for entering the teaching profession. The NEA, AFT, and Council of Chief State School Officers all have said they want higher entry standards. Such an exam would be modeled after other professions and is a potential game changer. If sufficiently rigorous, the exam…

Recently, schools of education throughout the country have struggled with how to infuse, teach, and assess dispositions in systematic ways within their teacher education programs. This necessary and important work has proved to be time-consuming challenging. The following article describes the four-step process that the authors are currently…