This paper focuses on efficacy beliefs with respect to teaching mathematics; it aims at testing and validating an existing scale for measuring efficacy beliefs in the domain of mathematics, examining the development of preservice teachers' efficacy beliefs in mathematics during fieldwork, and identifying factors that contribute to the development…

At both state and federal levels, partnerships of schools, parents, and communities have become an educational priority. Are teacher education programs adequately preparing preservice teachers for these partnerships? Focus groups of College of Education (COE) faculty from five Illinois Professional Learner's Partnership universities were conducted…

Field experience (junior practicum and student teaching) is considered by many to be the most influential part of a teacher preparation program (Cruickshank & Aramalin, 1986; Tannehill & Zakrajsek, 1988). During field experiences, preservice teachers (hereafter referred to as PSTs) are guided by a cooperating teacher (hereafter referred to as a…

The success of any educational reform depends upon the quality of teachers and in turn the quality of teachers depends to a large extent on the quality of teacher education and quality of teacher education mainly depends upon the teacher training institutions. Education is a nation building activity and teachers are the pillars of the educational…

The purpose of this study is to discover Florida International University student teachers' perceptions and experiences about inclusive education during their student teaching internship. A total of 271 student teachers (all those enrolled in Spring 06 and Fall 06 student teaching) participated. A mixed methods design was utilized to analyze the…

This article attempts to disrupt liberal democratic understandings of citizenship as they inform social studies curricula in schools. Care-less citizenship is used throughout the article to describe the denial or propensity to ignore the deep inequities that exist in the world. The article also implicates schooling, and in particular social…

This article examines how service-learning provides undergraduate teacher candidates opportunities to cultivate deeper understandings of diversity, social justice, and themselves. Participants were from a mid-Atlantic university and a rural southeastern university. Although from different regions, the teacher candidates shared predominantly White,…

Adapting training methods to specific teacher traits to best facilitate the training effects for preservice teachers is an important, yet neglected, topic in aptitude-treatment interaction research. This study investigated interactions between four personal traits (CT-dispositions, thinking styles, CT-skills, and intrapersonal intelligence) and…

The purpose of this study was to determine if modeling by university professors and practicum and cooperating teachers was related to preservice teachers' perceptions of their computer technology skills and if preservice teachers' use of technology in academic and other settings was related to those perceptions. Seventy-nine preservice teacher…

In this paper, the reflections on distinct and crucial teaching practices of a pre-service English language teacher are presented and examined. The focus of this paper is on three aspects of class teaching that the teacher found presented a challenge during her teaching practice. For each aspect, the nature of the difficulties and the challenges…

While the efficacy of performance-based assessment has been fairly well established, the various physiological, theoretical, and practical benefits of process-based forms of performance assessment have not been well explored. This study examined the perceptions and practices of teachers and pre-teachers related to the soundness of process-based…

Examines the process of resonance through an examination of the experiences shared by four preservice teachers. The role of experiential storytelling, and the connection of specific items in current or past experiences to a narrative of their own or someone else's experience are discussed. (MAK)

Using interviews, focus groups, and observations, we examined teacher candidates' understanding of the conceptual orientations that defined their preservice program and practicum experience. Using Feiman-Nemser's (1990) framework, we analyzed our data to determine the dominant perspectives of teacher candidates. Results indicate congruence between…

Preparing European-American preservice teachers for diverse urban school settings pose multiple challenges. Of primary concern are the differences in race, culture, and community between teachers and students. Because new teachers prefer to work where they grew up, most preservice teachers want to teach students who are like themselves in familiar…

To adequately prepare preservice teachers to implement inclusive classrooms, teacher preparation programs must encourage professional interaction, collaboration, and knowledge about inclusion. Although some of these skills can be presented in coursework, prospective teachers must be provided with opportunities to practice these skills in classroom…