The Relationship of University Supervisors and Supervising Teachers’ Ratings to Observed Student Teachers’ Behavior

Abstract

the relations of supervisor ratings of student teachers to independent objective observations of the behaviors reported in the rating responses. The major purpose of this study was to explore certain relationships of independent ratings of teaching behaviors observed in the classrooms of women elementary student teachers to supervisors' perceptions of student teachers' interpersonal behavior. Supervisor perceptions of student teachers' interpersonal behavior were studied in relationship to both the kind of influence (direct or indirect) exercised in the classroom and classroom emotional climate. SUBJECTS The subjects had a common background of professional preparation and were student teaching for two successive quarters. The median age of the student teachers was 21, and the range was from 20 to 23. The student teaching assignments for the 36 subjects over two quarters involved 38 classrooms and supervising teachers in 30 different schools. The schools were within four geographic areas in a midwest urban area that were equated for their socio-economic characteristics. Each subject was assigned a lower elementary grade (one through three) during one quarter and an upper elementary grade (four through six) during the other quarter. The subjects were stratified according to their grade level (lower or upper) preference. The subjects on each stratum were then assigned an experience order (lower-upper or upper-lower). The subjects were randomly assigned to classrooms within one of the four geographic blocks (Wilk, 1963). Student teachers were in their classrooms two weeks prior to the first observation each quarter. This allowed the student teacher to become acquainted with her students and adjusted to the particular classroom. Thirty-eight supervising teachers and seven university student teaching supervisors participated in this program. Each of these supervisors had experience in the supervision of student teaching. The uni279