Comparison of Pupil Achievement and Teacher Reactions in Teacher Center and Non-Teacher Center Schools

Abstract

This year-long, quasi-experimental evalu ation assessed the influence of selected teacher center com ponents on student academic achievement. The study also examined differences in teacher self-ratings of effectiveness, teaching style, and use of teacher education resource mate rials across treatment groups. Results suggested that center placed student teachers and school-based teacher education coordinators were an important influence on the reading and mathematics achievement of fifth and sixth graders. Teacher use of skills training materials also positively influ enced student achievement. Center teachers were found to rate themselves higher on teaching effectiveness and flexi bility than noncenter teachers. In recent years teacher have received increas ing national attention as potentially cohesive organi zations, responsive to today's needs for preparing prospec tive teachers and training teachers in-service. There is, however, little solid research evidence to substantiate the relative effectiveness of teacher (5), and center staff have been slow to evaluate their own efforts. West Virginia's Multi-Institutional Teacher Education Center (MITEC), for example, has been in existence since 1966. The center is now operating independently of external funds, and encompasses five state colleges and universities, four out-of-state institutions, four county school districts, and the state department of education. Such a wide-scale operation needs more than process-level, opinionaire sup port. Its efforts should begin to be felt at the product level?in classrooms?as well (1, 12). Thus, the present study was designed to relate selected MITEC activities to student achievement in Kanawha County schools. Student achievement was selected as the criterion for study with full knowledge that it is a variable at least two steps removed from center influence. That is, center activi ties might be expected, first, to influence teacher class room behavior, which, in turn, influences student class room behavior and, finally, student achievement. Resources did not permit examination of all these levels of influence, so a bottom-up strategy was applied. The hope was that any center influences on student achieve ment might provide clues to classroom processes that could eventually be studied in more detail, to help explain and control the effects. To determine the MITEC components for study, two sources were examined. Center objectives and related activities were stated in the MITEC Handbook (6), and in a previously conducted, process-level evaluation (9). Among the stated objectives, the following key activities were considered likely to have a positive influence on stu dent achievement: Establish special schools as for coordi nating preservice and in-service teacher training. Such schools are designated by MITEC as laboratory centers (LLCs). These LLCs provide diverse teacher education experi ences, encourage experimental methods of class room instruction, and maintain special differen tiated staffing patterns. Student teacher placement. Student teacher placement under the tutelage of specially selected and trained supervisory teachers is one element of the differentiated staffing patterns employed in LLCs. Appointment of special school-based coordina tors (SBCs) to handle teacher training needs in schools that have student teachers. Another element of staffing in some LLCs is the appoint ment of an outstanding teacher as SBC. This This content downloaded from 157.55.39.29 on Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:03:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 124 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH teacher is responsible for organizing interesting and appropriate training experiences in schools that have student teachers. Establishment of teacher education resource in LLCs. These instructional materials (IMCs) are established by SBCs for LLC schools, and contain various sorts of learning packages, books, games, skills training materials, and so on, for use by any teacher in-service and, particularly, student teachers. The influence of each of these components was exam ined at three grade levels?fourth, fifth, and sixth. Middle elementary grades were considered a more appropriate point of influence than early elementary grades, where students are still acquiring achievement-related skills. Also, few student teachers were placed in the high schools in Kanawha County. In addition to the center components, the study determined the extent to which selected teacher characteristics, specifically, teacher ratings of themselves as teachers and teaching style (studentversus teacher centered) related to student achievement. It was expected that these teacher characteristics would mediate the effects of center components on student achievement.