Multiple Perspectives on the Classroom Performance of Certified and Uncertified Teachers

Abstract

Despite the increasingly widespread practice of alternative certification, only a few researchers have investigated the relationship between pedagogical training and teachers' classroom perform ance. In this study, the classroom performance of novice, advanced beginner, and expert teachers was compared from the perspectives of subject matter knowledge and delivery, educational con noisseurship, nonverbal behavior, and systematic observation. Teachers without pedagogical train ing were less able than those with training to keep students on task, to provide appropriate feed back, to assess student performance, and were less effective in subject matter delivery. These findings raise questions about the practice of alternative and emergency certification.