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Abstract
Federal reform efforts in recent years have caused the educational community to examine teacher education. Teacher education has responded by turning attention to effective teaching and the creation of national standards. Effective teaching is defined as using previous research in common knowledge, skills, and dispositions to improve student achievement. In Georgia, three universities and partners throughout the state received a grant from the federally-funded standards-based education program (STEP) which resulted in the creation of the Georgia Systemic Teacher Education Program (GSTEP). Research on effective teaching and national standards was used to guide the GSTEP partners mission and goals. The GSTEP overarching goal was to develop common language to articulate a definition of an accomplished teacher agreed upon by the stakeholders in the community. Focus groups, of over 500 individuals (teachers, teacher educators, parents, students, community members, and business), were conducted to determine statements of what accomplished (effective) teachers know and are able to do. These statements lead to the development of Guiding Principles and Framework Standards in Georgia. The purpose of this study was to assess student teachers preparation to teach using the GSTEP Framework Standards for Accomplished Teaching. Preparation to teach was rated by student teachers and their supervising teachers using an instrument based on the GSTEP Framework. Rotters Internal-External Locus of Control (1966) was used to identify correlations between student teacher ratings of preparation to teach using the GSTEP Framework Standards Scale Student and his or her locus of control. Findings from this study indicated a statistically significant difference in ratings of knowledge of students and their learning between student teacher and supervising teacher. The study is important in the reform and administration of teacher education curricula and will help in understanding the principles of effective teaching and the use of standards as a conceptual framework for teacher education. Within the participating career and technical education program, practical significance was illustrated by identification of subscale areas needing more emphasis. Using the framework as a guide to preparation, certification, and assessment provides knowledge on how to accomplish reform in teacher education programs.