Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement 1

Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement:

What Role do Teacher Education Programs Play?

Jamee Stearns and Kaylie Clark

CU Denver School of Education and Human Development

Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement 2

Introduction

Teacher Education Programs have experienced many shifts within the study of Special

Education. While progress has been made and educational institutions are evaluating the

preparation of their teacher candidates, many deficiencies within national teacher education

programs continue to exist. As the need for teacher efficacy increases within inclusion,

differentiation, and the constant advance of Special Education, the call for advancing Teacher

Education Programs to prepare teachers for inclusive classrooms is more than evident today.

Discrepancies and suggestions for improvement are discussed within this literature review.

Inclusion

Bauwens, Hourcade, and Friend (1989) studied cooperative teaching as a model for the

integration of general and special education. During this time, cooperative education was not as

widely implemented, accepted, or understood as it is today. Deficiencies in the education of

students with special needs could be linked to a variety of issues including a lack of

administrative support, pulling students out of their general classroom to receive interventions

rather than providing push-in support, and failure of adequate research regarding categorizing

students and programs. The authors found that cooperative teaching is pivotal if all students are

to be successful. As the general classroom teacher and special education teacher work together,

each is able to fill in gaps of understanding regarding the students’ needs and the best practice

necessary.

About 10 years later, a survey was given to teachers evaluating their perceptions of their

ability to positively affect students, their personal understanding of inclusion, the need for

education and training in various areas, and the availability of resources and supports to promote
Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement 3

inclusion were examined for both special and general education teacher. A lack of preparation in

an integration between general and special education creates the difficulty in providing inclusive

services of quality to students with disabilities and their families in the least restrictive

environment. Also, perceived levels of supports and self-efficacy within the general educator

realm is significantly lower than that of those educators in special education (Buell, Hallam,

Gamel-Mccormick, & Scheer, 1999).

Idol (2006) analyzed the attitudes held by educators toward the idea of inclusion.

Research compared the degrees of inclusion across classrooms in both elementary and secondary

settings. The feelings of educators (general and specialized) toward inclusion were positive, but

general education teachers mostly noted the preference of having an instructional assistant or

paraprofessional in the classroom with students with disabilities. Attitudes of shifting toward

inclusion were positive, but the data collected within the actual implementation of inclusion

within generalized classrooms was not always representative of success. When implementing

inclusion within the classroom over the course of the study, 3 of the 4 schools showed

improvement of test scores from the students with disabilities whose data was monitored.

Inclusion has been proven to be beneficial to the majority of classrooms participating in this

study.

Although general educators are open-minded to the idea of inclusion, not much training is

offered or required to meet the needs of students with exceptionalities. Some educators are even

critical and wary of inclusion and see it as a disadvantage to students (Refice, 2006). Teachers

need more education and training surrounding the topic in order to fully embrace the benefits. A

teacher’s attitude and perceptions regarding inclusion affect whether they implement inclusive
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programs with success. These beliefs are built from the teacher’s understanding and experience

with students with disabilities. Teachers who are open and willing to change their teaching

practices to become more inclusive usually have a better outcome in the instruction of their

students, with or without disabilities (Sutherland & Teacher, 2004).

Teacher Efficacy

The call for effective practice and differentiation within classroom instruction is dire. The

need for teachers who are able to accommodate, modify, and differentiate for a variety of

students and circumstances is essential for student success. Different demographics of students,

diverse populations, English language learners, and students with disabilities are among those

that are most negatively impacted by ineffective teachers (Tomlinson, Brighton, Hertberg,

Callahan, Moon, Brimijoin, & Reynolds, 2003).

An analysis of a self-reported questionnaire regarding teacher efficacy (the belief

teachers held that they could affect change in students and the belief that students can benefit

from schooling despite their background or home environment) reported a relationship between

efficacy and certain personal and professional characteristics (Allinder, 1994). The identified

characteristics linked to teacher efficacy included ​instructional experimentation (willingness to

try a variety of materials and approaches as well as implementing progressive and innovative

techniques), business-like approach (degree of organization, planfulness, and fairness), and

assuredness (enthusiasm and clarity). Results indicated that teachers who believed in their ability

to teach were more likely to try new ways of teaching, take a business-like approach to

instruction, are confident and enthusiastic about teaching, and are assured in themselves.
Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement 5

Furthermore, Jordan, Schwartz, and McGhie-Richmond (2009) examined the relationship

between effective teacher skills that promote high levels of student engagement (i.e. good

classroom and time management, scaffolding, to meet student needs, facilitating higher-level

thinking, and encouraging and supporting success). These teaching skills are effective for all

students regardless of special needs. These effective teaching skills need be the foundation for

the model of inclusion in a general education classroom. Effective teaching practices coupled

with teacher’s self-evaluation of their own biases and attitudes towards disability should be

considered when designing teacher preparation programs. Additionally, teachers should be

pushed to address what success, and ability mean to them and what they believe about how

learning occurs.

Teacher Preparation and Training

Bullough and Baughman (1995) studied the effects of teachers with specialized training

versus teachers without any training in special education on the achievement of students with

disabilities. The study found that teachers with minimal graduate coursework in special

education and no practical experience are less able to accomodate and differentiate for students

with special needs. Her lack of training significantly impacted her effectiveness in instruction

which manifested itself as poor student achievement by no fault of the students. Without enough

experience and training in special education, classroom teachers struggle to appropriately support

their students with disabilities.

The foundation of learning teachers gain from teacher preparation programs is essential

for developing correct conceptions and adequate readiness to be a successful teacher of students

with exceptionalities. ​Brownell, Sindelar, Kiel, and Danielson (2010) exposed the devastating
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truth that ​the preservice education teachers receive is not enough to meet the increasingly

complex knowledge base teachers need to have in order to implement Response to Intervention

(RTI) effectively. There are many demands placed on special education teachers that it interferes

with their ability to focus on student gains and keep up with the current most effect techniques

and strategies.

Additionally, researchers assessed students’ gains in test scores as a measure to evaluate

teacher preparedness in their first year of teaching. Teacher preparation programs vary even

among the same institution with respect to bachelor versus master’s program. Yet, consistent

differences are noted among teacher preparation each year. Some programs tend to graduate

more effective teachers which effects the outcome of student achievement. Programs need to

focus on recruitment and selection of excellent teacher candidates by adding value to the

preparedness teachers will gain from the institution. Teacher candidates who complete a

capstone project, have study curricula curricula, are trained through student teaching, and have

ample amounts of content learning show the greatest gains in student achievement their first and

second years of teaching (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2009).

Darling-Hammond, Chung, and Frelow (2002) analyzed a survey of roughly 3,000 new

teachers in New York City found that teacher who went through an extensive teacher preparation

program felt much more confident when entering teaching than those who went through an

alternative program or one that lacked adequate preparation. Additionally, the study identified a

correlation between graduates who felt prepared to begin teaching and their teaching efficacy,

sense of responsibility for student learning, and plans to continue teaching long-term.

Furthermore, the researchers found that certain teaching characteristics we overrepresented as

Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement 7

lacking among teacher who felt they lacked preparedness and had a low sense of efficacy. For

example, using technology in the classroom and teaching English language learners were aspects

of teaching many teachers felt underprepared to perform.

An evaluation conducted by Sands, Duffield, and Parsons (2007) to determine to what

degree core courses in teacher preparation programs integrated special education, the use of

technology, and cultural awareness in the general education curriculum concluded that teachers

need to examine their own understanding of content and instructional practices as well as

become more focused and purposeful in their work. Teachers can not be effective if they have

not yet mastered the subject material they are teaching. Often times, educators lack the content

knowledge that they are required to teach and are unable to efficiently teach subject areas to

students that they themselves do not fully understand. The researchers contend that there must be

a pedagogical shift to focus on laying a groundwork of course work rooted in content knowledge

so teachers can master the information before teaching it. Emphasis should be placed on the

content being taught as much as strategies to teach it and other coursework provided in teacher

preparation programs.

Gap in the Research

Teacher practices, in Special Education and general education, are constantly changing.

A lack of experience and content knowledge in pre-service and in-service teachers proves to be a

large deficit. However, not much research has been done to decide what the best option would be

to increase efficacy of teacher education programs. Especially so, the gap between research and

practice is not efficiently addressed. Tomlinson (2003) suggests that in order for the research

conducted to be efficient in addressing the need for improvement in teacher education programs,
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the research must address two critical questions: “First, what reasons do we have to assume that

instruction responsive to student readiness, interest, or learning profile could result in more

appropriate learning experiences and outcomes for academically diverse populations? Second,

what would be the hallmarks of appropriately differentiated instruction?” As teaching practices

considered to be effective change with time, so does the relevance of prior literature and research

done on the topic. This creates a decent gap in the accuracy of the research. Tomlinson (2003)

states “As movement in the direction of developing academically responsive classrooms is

relatively new, so is the knowledge base that might ultimately support such classrooms”.

Without consistent research along with the ever-changing effective teacher practices,

discrepancies between inclusion, differentiation, and proper preparation for teachers will

continue to be evident.

Some suggestions to bridge the gap in research have been made. Such suggestions

include increasing exposure to the inclusive classroom for teacher candidates, involving teachers

(both pre- and in-service) in research-based practices for differentiation, and continual support of

teachers within the classrooms could be the answer to increasing teacher efficacy. As Greenwood

(2001) suggests, “Increasing teachers’ participation in the design, implementation, and

evaluation of research-based instructional intervention practices is one major approach to

bridging the gap.” All teachers, whether general education or specialized, should be expected to

be aware of and attempt to implement research-based intervention practices to best meet the

needs of all of their students. Proper exposure and more extensive studies of teacher preparation

and expectations through the changing practices will also help to bridge the gap in research.
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Conclusion and Next Steps

Overwhelming evidence on the study of teacher preparedness and its relationship to

student achievement shows that there is a lack in overall training for classroom teachers with

respect to special education. If teachers are to be prepared to accommodate and differentiate for

their students with exceptionalities, changes must be made in the ways teachers are trained.

Although the inadequate preparation teachers receive in terms of special education training is

being highlighted now more than ever before, there is still a tremendous lack in research in this

area.​ This unfortunate reality is evidence enough to suggest that there needs to be change.

There are many levels upon which the effectiveness of a teacher education program could

be improved within the realm of special education. Some suggestions include: implementing a

more extensive field experience within the program, collaboration between general education

and special education, a focus on inclusion and cultural diversity, and a suggestion for the

generalization of competencies for special education within teacher programs (​Brownell, Ross,

Col​ón, and McCallum, 2005). General teacher education programs need to have more training

involved in special education in order to properly address the issue of successfully instructing

students with disabilities. The integration of special education within general education programs

is not only beneficial but vital to the effectiveness especially of new teachers coming into the

workforce from teacher education programs. Special education teacher education as of right now

within general education programs is minimal to non-existent. Introducing special education

teacher education into general education teacher programs will only serve to benefit students

with disabilities and teacher effectiveness. Additionally, creating reform to include more

thoughtful systems of licensing, more productive programs for teacher education, and more
 Teacher Preparedness and Student Achievement
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strategies for professional development will further teachers’ abilities to teach on a more

individualized and inclusive level (Darling-Hammond, 2000).

Reflection

Many of the issues researched above have been seen within our own site schools. Our

passion for increased awareness of the deficiencies in teacher education programs to prepare

candidates for inclusive classrooms drove our research. In having done the research, we have

gained better insight into exact deficiencies seen internationally within teacher education

programs, and has given us more information on how to best approach such discrepancies when

it comes to being in our own classrooms. Our key take-away point within our research was that,

in order to address the discrepancies evident in research and personal witnessing within our

schools, ​there must be a pedagogical shift to focus on laying a groundwork of coursework

delving into content knowledge and exposure so that teacher candidates can master the

information before teaching it.

In writing a literature review, we learned that not all articles that one reads in attempt to

research will provide adequate information. The gap in research must play a large role in the

discrepancy between the issue and the solution of creating more effective teacher education

programs. As for future students, we suggest collaboration. Having someone to bounce ideas off

of and to work with made the failing research moments much more tolerable. Collaboration also

allowed for effective use of time. Just as one could expect, collaboration between general

educators and special educators is essential to the success of our students. Using this project as

an opportunity to collaborate will help future students to communicate needs and to have support

that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

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Bullough, R. V., & Baughman, K. (1995). Inclusion: A view from inside the classroom. ​Journal

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Boyd, D. J., Grossman, P. L., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2009). Teacher preparation

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