Until 2014, admission requirements for the educator preparation program at a university in the north central United States included a minimum competency level on the Praxis I basic skills writing test and completion of one general education writing course. However, evidence from the university's ETS reports showed that less than 60% of students as…

Raising evaluation capacity is not an easy task unless the evaluation competence of Extension professionals in each program area is identified. The study reported here identified whether level of knowledge and skills and needs for further training in program evaluation vary for Extension educators based on their program area. A total of 752…

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)…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine the impact of a school-based, job-embedded professional development program on elementary and middle school teacher efficacy for technology integration. Participant bi-weekly journal postings were analyzed using Grappling's "Technology and Learning Spectrum" (Porter, 2001) to…

This study aimed to evaluate a training programme for Dutch teachers in six institutes for nursing education to support students' reflection skills. The research question was: what are the feasibility, quality and effects of the programme? The training programme focused on four competences of teachers regarding instructing, guiding, giving…

The principles of education for sustainable development implemented in Lithuanian education system shifted the perceptions of teachers' roles from disseminating knowledge towards developing students' competencies of responsible, critical and creative thinking and acting. The objective of this research is to find out whether pre-service dance…

If classroom teachers are among the greatest determinant of student learning, then teacher preparation programs have a role to play improving educational outcomes for struggling learners. There are currently three established teacher preparation program models: (1) "discrete"; (2) "integrated"; and (3) "merged." In the "discrete" model, which is…

We investigated the effectiveness of the 360-credit National Professional Diploma (NPDE) as a programme that is aimed at the upgrading of currently serving unqualified and under-qualified educators, with a view to improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools and Further Education and Training colleges. To this end, the National…

This paper examines the growth of the standards movement in education and asserts that the standards movement neglects large issues and constructs in a search for a simple, "quick fix" solution. Most of the standards' attention is centered around the content of the curriculum and little attention is paid to students and teachers. The standards…

The comprehensive review of Nevada's Competency Testing Program for Educational Personnel grew out of a study which followed a cohort of new teachers over 2 years to determine their test-taking experiences. Results suggested a need to investigate the program and its scope, implementation problems, and relation to other educational entities such as…

In this era of external teacher testing with the intent of ensuring the competence of the teaching force, as well as holding students and institutions accountable for results, the Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA) stands in sharp contrast. It represents an alternative to external testing of preservice teachers, testing procured from…

Education policymakers have long sought to establish teaching standards that will measure new or continuing teachers against these standards. The problem is, existing methods for certifying teachers have been criticized for being either so onerous as to deter good candidates or so lax as to keep weak teachers in the profession. To provide another…

Research says the school-improvement mechanisms favored by policymakers-more certification tests (like the Massachusetts Educator Certification Test that 59 percent of candidates failed in 1998), higher cut scores, and severe penalties for institutions not meeting pass rates-are unlikely to deliver increased accountability and better teachers.…

This presentation outlines, in operational terms, the components and products of a longitudinal evaluation model for teacher education programs, and discusses an approach to program evaluation that embodies activities within three taxonomical phases referred to as formative, summative, and confirmative evaluation. When applied to competency-based…

The Education Department of Salem-Teikyo University (West Virginia) was chosen to develop a pilot assessment plan as part of the overall Institutional Student Outcomes Assessment Plan. The plan delineated in this paper includes the following criteria: (1) students majoring in education may enroll in the teacher education program to earn elementary…