The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.
Question of the Week
What Are the Impacts of Education Majors’ Field Experiences as Classroom Aides?
The Reference Desk has received several questions in recent months about effective teacher preparation. This week’s Digest asks whether education majors’ field experience as classroom aides enhances their teacher preparation, and how these placements may affect the students and teachers they work with. The question ask both about improving the educational outcomes of K–12 students and providing a meaningful learning experience for teacher candidates.
Question
What is the impact of education majors’ field experience as classroom aides on students, teachers, and the education majors themselves?
Research Synthesis
Reference Desk researchers found several articles that address teacher candidate field experiences in schools. Two studies suggest a positive impact for lead classroom teachers (Creasy, 2005; see below) and their pupils (Cave, 2010; see below) when they have teacher aides in their classrooms. Another article (Lawrence, 2010; see below) describes a “service-learning” experience, in which teacher candidates met multiple times with fourth-grade students to help create a Family Science Night event. An outcome of this experience was that the teacher candidates “portrayed teaching as something that requires complex knowledge of their students.” Additional studies are summarized in the full response, which can be downloaded below.
Publicly Available Resources
- The Effects of a Professional Development School Program on Student Achievement as Measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Teacher Perceptions of School Climate, and Pre-Service Teacher Reflections. December 2005; Creasy, K.; Dissertation, The University of Akron; 181 pages; ERIC Document #ED494680.
From the ERIC abstract: “Professional Development Schools are innovations in which universities are joined with schools. Commonly teacher candidates are immersed in one setting. Early PDS research tended to focus on one aspect of a program. Those aspects of PDS studies were typically student achievement, the professional development of faculty, or teacher candidate preparation. The focus of this research was to look at those same aspects from a multi-dimensional view to determine the benefits for each group. … When measuring achievement using the ITBS, it was found that five of the six hypotheses tested, while not statistically significant, were in the predicted direction. This quantitative data is supportive of a trend that a positive relationship exists between this PDS setting and academic gain. Results indicated that teachers participating in the PDS scored significantly higher on the NASSP School Climate Survey. Additionally, the self-reported reflective journal themes of the teacher candidates matched the CBAM, indicating that these pre-service teachers were developing as teaching professionals.”
- When Learning is at Stake: Exploration of the Role of Teacher Training and Professional Development Schools on Elementary Students’ Math Achievement. 2010; Cave, A. & Brown, C. W.; National Forum of Teacher Education Journal; Vol. 20, No. 3; 22 pages.
According to the Abstract: “[T]he purpose of this article is to explore how a professional development school (PDS) collaboration project contributed to improved elementary students’ math achievement in an urban setting. Finding ways to maximize the educational outcomes of P–12 students and pre-service teacher candidates in their school-based practicum is an ongoing challenge for teacher educators and school instructional leaders but is not always a joint venture. In this case, funds were provided to develop a PDS partnership between a public charter school educating underachieving students and a small private university preparing teacher candidates.” In the Discussion section, the authors state that “[t]aken as a whole, the data appear to show that children gained in math scores more than expected.”
- Becoming Aware of the Challenges of Helping Students Learn: An Examination of the Nature of Learning During a Service-Learning Experience. Winter 2010; Lawrence, M. N. & Butler, M. B.; Teacher Education Quarterly; Vol. 37, No. 1; pp. 155–175; ERIC Document # EJ872654.
From the Findings section: “As pre service teachers engaged in this service-learning experience, the subjects of our study were primarily focused on attempting to teach for understanding. However, they came to realize how difficult teaching for understanding was and began to realize it was impossible to separate effective teaching from knowledge of and ability to respond to the needs of their students. Thus, candidates represented their learning about teaching as something that existed in dialogic tension with the learner. In our data, the preservice teachers” talk distinguished them from the general trend in the literature which indicates that preservice teachers tend to ‘focus on and describe their own actions as teachers rather than the actions of pupils’ (Kagan, 1992, p. 133) and have only ‘vague ideas about the nature of pupils’ (Kagan, p. 141). Unlike many of the preservice teachers with whom we previously worked, they portrayed teaching as something that requires complex knowledge of their students. Thus, we will initially describe the meanings of teaching and learning constructed by these preservice teachers and then explore the relationship between these meanings and the contextual factors of this service-learning experience.”
The Reference Desk also found this organization and its resources helpful in learning more about teacher preparation in general:
- National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
NCATE’s Mission is “…to help establish high quality teacher, specialist, and administrator preparation. Through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges, and departments of education, NCATE works to make a difference in the quality of teaching, teachers, school specialists, and administrators. NCATE believes every student deserves a caring, competent, and highly qualified teacher.”
- National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center)
Mission: “The TQ Center was created to serve as the premier national resource to which the regional comprehensive centers, states, and other education stakeholders turn for strengthening the quality of teaching—especially in high-poverty, low-performing, and hard-to-staff schools—and for finding guidance in addressing specific needs, thereby ensuring highly qualified teachers are serving students with special needs.” Relevant topics include Certification and Licensure, Effectiveness and Evaluation, and Preparation.
Download the Full Response
If this material brings up questions of your own, please submit a new request here. If you’re interested in learning more about the Reference Desk, read about us here. And finally, share thoughts, experiences, and resources of your own by clicking on the Feedback link below.
