Study on Teacher Preparation Outcomes to Receive 2022 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award
AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) today announced the article, “Three Different Measures of Graduates’ Instructional Readiness and the Features of Preservice Preparation That Predict Them,” received the 2022 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article Award. This award, cosponsored by AACTE’s Committee on Research and Dissemination and Sage Journals, recognizes exemplary scholarship published in JTE in educator preparation or teaching and learning with implications for educator preparation. The award will be presented at the AACTE 74th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La. on March 6.
The award-winning article, published in the January/February 2021 issue of JTE, build on previous research seeking to identify preparation features related to better workforce outcomes. Coauthors include Matthew Ronfeldt, associate professor of education at the University of Michigan; Kavita Kapadia Matsko, associate professor and associate dean for teacher education at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy; Hillary Greene Nolan, an education researcher at Digital Promise Global; and Michelle Reininger, director of research partnerships and data initiatives at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study follows 305 preservice teachers (PSTs) who student-taught in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 2014–2015 and were then hired in CPS in 2015–2016. According to the authors’ research, PSTs received stronger observation ratings when their cooperating teachers (CTs) had stronger observation ratings themselves, their CTs reported providing stronger coaching in specific areas, they gained employment in their field placement schools, and they student taught in self-contained elementary classrooms. The researchers also tested whether these same preparation features were associated with two other outcomes and found they were not. Those outcomes were: (a) how well-prepared PSTs felt after student-teaching and (b) how well-prepared their CTs felt their PSTs were. The article also discusses the implications for using workforce and survey-based outcomes to identify promising forms of preparation.
University of Michigan School of Education Dean Elizabeth Moje said, “The paper by Dr. Ronfeldt and colleagues offers a number of important contributions to our understanding of the features that make up high-quality teacher preparation, which is absolutely critical for assuring that all children, youth, and adults have access to efficacious and equitable education opportunities. As one of the first studies to show a positive association between the observation ratings of new graduates and their mentor teachers, this influential publication demonstrates the importance of having highly skilled teachers serving in mentor roles.”
The 26th annual AACTE Awards Program honors member institutions and individuals who have made bold, extraordinary, and innovative contributions to the profession of teacher education.
Lynn M. Gangone, AACTE president and chief executive officer, said, “I look forward to honoring the authors of ‘Three Different Measures of Graduates’ Instructional Readiness and the Features of Preservice Preparation That Predict Them’ for their pivotal research on teacher preparation outcomes at the 74th Annual Meeting.”
Tags: Annual Meeting, Awards
