The objective of this research was to develop a systematic and accurate process for the assessment of concerns of 408 graduate students in University of Tennessee-Knoxville's College of Education, utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. A 77-item, Likert-type instrument was developed, with a final open-ended question,…

The educational media competencies identified as most important by Alabama student teachers, the competencies they feel that they possess, and the relationship between perception of competency level and importance was investigated for majors in five programs: special education, N-12 certification, elementary education, early childhood education,…

The Sun Coast Area Teacher Training (SCATT) Program at the University of South Florida is involved in an endeavor to attract and keep bright and talented teachers in the teaching profession. Its mission is to achieve academic excellence and to improve the quality of teacher candidates. SCATT was begun as a collaborative program of the University…

The idea of certifying teachers without methods courses and student teaching is being proposed in some states. Music educators must initiate reform in the training of music teachers before those outside the field do it. Ways that individual music teacher educators can improve the training of music education majors are discussed. (RM)

This pamphlet describes the process of beginning to use portfolios in an elementary teacher training program. It defines the concept of portfolios and provides a rationale for their use in teacher education programs. Portfolios are suggested for use in preservice teacher education in three ways: to evaluate the preservice teacher education…

In promoting integration of exceptional children into regular classes, much emphasis has been placed on inservice and preservice preparation of teachers to develop skills and attitudes conducive to implementation of mainstreaming. Review of the literature indicated that structured inservice education programs were usually effective in providing…

All teacher education students in Texas must pass three minimum competency examinations to be admitted to a teacher education program. The Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST) contains three separate tests in reading, mathematics, and writing. West Texas State University requires all entering freshmen to submit scores from the American College…

Undergraduate education majors should be given opportunities to conduct ethnographic research as a part of their preservice training. Programs at the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin (Madison) illustrate ways to use such an approach. (Author/PP)

This study compared the mathematical competencies and attitudes of elementary education majors (n=171) to a representative college population. Results indicated that elementary education majors possessed more negative attitudes toward mathematics and scored lower in 9 of 10 competency categories than the general college population. Significant…

A strong case can be made for increasing the hours of the social studies methods course from three to six semester hours. One of the major problems of secondary social studies classes is the unimaginative, unexciting, and predominant practice of transmitting unexamined and unquestioned facts and information to the students. Social studies…

In response to the increasing need of rural public schools for teachers who can function in more than one teaching area, Arkansas College initiated a program for students to become certified in both special education and elementary education. Through this dual, 4-year program, the employment prospects of students are increased, the needs of area…

Possible relationships among selected psychological, sociological, and economic characteristics of doctoral students were studied, and these characteristics were compared for students who completed or withdrew from Doctor of Education degree (Ed.D.) programs at West Virginia University. Questionnaires were mailed to 254 Ed.D. recipients and 287…

Regular classroom teachers (n=114) who had taken a special education course were queried as to the value of the information presented to them, after they had begun to teach mainstreamed students. Results indicated that teachers considered the topics covered to be very important, and reported themselves to be fairly competent to deal with…

Traditional- (n=103) and nontraditional-aged (n=85) women majoring in education were surveyed concerning the relationship of multiple roles to student role strain and affective well-being. Multiple role incumbency was unrelated to student role strain for either group but was positively related to well-being in the nontraditional-age group.…

Investigates aspects of instructional language from three historical perspectives to define elements of teacher language behavior and to develop an instructional language assessment instrument that might be useful in evaluating the language behavior of preservice elementary and music education majors. Compares behaviors of elementary education…