Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) are where prospective teachers gain a foundation of knowledge about pedagogy and subject matter, as well as early exposure to practical classroom experience. Although competence in teaching, as in all professions, is shaped significantly by on-the-job experiences and continuous learning, the programs that…

This book presents the research-based case that Learner Centered Teaching (LCT) offers the best means to optimize student learning in college, and offers examples and ideas for putting it into practice, as well the underlying rationale. It also starts from the premise that many faculty are much closer to being learner centered teachers than they…

This action research study was conducted for purposes of changing the formal evaluation for school administrators to one constructed around the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) 2008 standards, inclusive of multifaceted components aimed to increase the active participation of both the evaluator and the individual being…

This field-based action research practicum investigated how students who have completed culinary training programs in Massachusetts public secondary schools perform in post-secondary coursework. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has developed the Vocational Technical Education (VTE) Framework for Culinary Arts that outlines…

This study investigates beliefs about teaching held by preservice science teachers and their influences on self-perceived microteaching outcomes within interactive secondary science teaching methods courses. Hermeneutic methodology was used in cooperation with seven preservice science teachers (N = 7) to infer participant beliefs about teaching…

This study investigated the relationship between commonly used admission criteria, found in a one-year, post Bachelor's degree, initial, teacher education program, and the preparedness of teacher candidates in mathematics for independent teaching. The admission criteria used in this study were grade point average (GPA) and a written profile. The…

This study assesses how effective classroom sessions are at teaching geriatric competencies to medical students. At Stony Brook Medical School, most geriatric competencies are taught in the Ambulatory Care Clerkship during small-group educational sessions. Clinical exposure to reinforce these specialized skills varies with preceptor assignment. A…

Both professional certification and academic tests rely heavily on multiple-choice questions, despite the widespread belief that alternate, constructed-response questions are superior measures of a test taker's understanding of the underlying material. Empirically, the search for a link between these two assessment metrics has met with limited…

In June 2009, The New Teacher Project's study, "The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness", drew national attention to the issue of ineffective teacher evaluation systems. The study documents how teacher evaluation systems ignore variations in performance, giving virtually all…

Critical thinking is an important outcome of a college education. Assessment techniques that require students to demonstrate their understanding of course concepts are referred to as authentic assessment and promote the development of critical thinking. Little research exists on the types of assessment and grading practices utilized by community…

In an October 22, 2010, speech to teacher educators at Columbia University's Teachers College, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proclaimed that revolutionary change in the education of teachers is essential if the problems facing U.S. society and U.S. schools are to be solved. Toward the end of his speech, he declared that a standardized…

The study investigated the perceptions of student teachers towards teaching practice assessment. Participants N=180:90 males, 90 females were randomly drawn from three primary school teachers' colleges in Masvingo Educational Region of Zimbabwe. A questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. A chi-square test was used to analyse the…

Using data from 10 states, Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis, and Williams (2008) found gender similarities in performance on standardized math tests. The present study attempted to replicate this finding with national data and to extend it by examining whether gender similarities in math performance are moderated by race, socioeconomic status, or math…

This article is based on an experiment designed to conduct an interpreting test for multiple candidates online, using web-based synchronous cyber classrooms. The test model was based on the accreditation test for Professional Interpreters produced by the National Accreditation Authority of Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) in Australia.…

School librarians nationwide seek to produce evidence of the library's impact on student learning and achievement. While classroom teachers demonstrate their impact through the use of standardized test scores including end-of-grade tests and SAT/ACT tests, school librarians have long used informal or in-class assessments to gauge student learning.…