Section archive - Theories & Approaches

This article analyzes 25 years of data on the academic ability of teachers in New York State. It documents that since 1999 the academic ability of both individuals certified and those entering teaching has steadily increased. These gains are widespread and have resulted in a substantial narrowing of the differences in teacher academic ability between high- and low-poverty schools and between White and minority teachers.

This study aims to examine the factors that motivate teacher education students to choose teaching as a career in Hong Kong. The results showed altruistic and intrinsic motivations were the most important teaching motivations. These motivations correlated positively with planned teaching engagement. A major new finding of this study is the identification of two distinct types of fallback career. Two factors along this line of reasoning were extracted from our factor analysis. However, although two types of fallback career motivation were identified, only one correlated negatively with planned engagement.

This study examines trends in teachers’ attitudes and practices that may be affecting the educational experience and achievement of many students with disabilities (SWD). The results provide information regarding the attitudes of teachers toward the ability of SWD and the fairness and validity of high-stakes testing. The attitude of teachers toward the ability of SWD to learn and achieve higher level thinking was found to predict proficient scores of SWD on the New England Common Assessment Program achievement test.

This study explored the achievement of preservice teachers when advice in the form of text and resources was provided based on students’ identified learning styles. The authors developed an online module to link prepared advice for the completion of course tasks to particular learning style preferences. The results point to the value of a learning style preference advice module as a scaffolding tool. Students’ assessment results when advice was provided were higher than when advice was not provided. Additionally, students believed the online module provided valuable information in understanding and applying content to the completion of course assignments. The findings show that coupled with feedback provided to students in other ways throughout the course, the online learning style preference module adds additional support to preservice teachers that may lead to increasing their understanding of course content and learning styles.