To meet the demands of living and working in the 21st century, it is critical that every P-12 student in every classroom have an effective teacher. Yet, each year, thousands of new teachers enter the field unprepared to meet the challenges of today's classroom. Recent federal policies such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have made teacher preparation the primary focus of the debate on educational reform. The purpose of this study was to determine how participation in early field experiences impacts teacher candidate readiness. Performance data from two groups of elementary education teacher candidates were compared. Candidates in the traditional undergraduate pathway completed 111 hours of field experience prior to student teaching. Candidates in the MAT pathway had no early field experience prior to student teaching. Data from three summative assessments, the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA), Praxis II and the internship final grade, were analyzed to determine if any significant differences existed between the two groups. No significant differences were found between the two groups on the TPA and Praxis II. The analysis of internship final grade showed that the MAT candidates withdrew from student teaching at a significantly higher rate than the undergraduate candidates. To determine if this difference was related to participation in early field experiences, interviews were held with key teacher educators. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts revealed that lack of teaching experience was a major factor in the withdrawal of MAT candidates. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]