Criteria for the Selection of Student-Teaching Centers

Abstract

THE PRACTICE of sending undergraduate students who are majoring in teacher education into the elementary and secondary schools of the state for their initial or pre-employment experiences in teaching is re ceiving increasingly favorable consideration among educators through out the country. Prior to 1940, very little student teaching, other than in the vocational subjects, was done in off-campus schools, except in those schools which were in close proximity to the teacher-training institution. However, the recent trend is to provide student-teaching facilities in schools away from the college campus in which a period of time (usually several weeks) is devoted solely to student teaching and related activities. In order that maximum benefit may be secured from the student teach ing period, it is highly imperative that care and good judgment be exer cised in the selection of the schools to be utiliized for this purpose. Al though this study was restricted to the selection of student-teaching cen ters in vocational agriculture, the writer believes that a number of the criteria suggested would be worthy of consideration when developing cri teria for the selection of student-teaching centers for prospective tea chers of academic classes. Since the suggested set of criteria shown below was the result of a study which included several phases, the procedure in obtaining data is shown. This makes possible a more complete interpretation of the au thor's recommendations.