You are here
The Front End of the STEM Teacher Pipeline: Early Career STEM Teachers' Field Experiences and Perceptions of Preparation
A growing quantitative literature finds evidence that student teaching placements predict later outcomes of teacher candidates and their students, but there is little large-scale quantitative evidence about the mechanisms for these estimated relationships. We use data from a survey of STEM teachers in Washington State to better understand how their perceptions of preparation are related to student teaching placements and current classroom environment. We find evidence that the composition of students in student teaching classrooms are predictive of STEM teachers’ perceptions of their preparation. For example, STEM teachers who student taught in classrooms with more English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged students reported feeling prepared to teach these specific student populations. Likewise, STEM teachers who student taught in high-poverty classrooms tended to report feeling better prepared to manage their current classroom, particularly if they were currently teaching in a high-poverty classroom.
Citation: Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, Kathryn Choate, Nate Brown (2021). The Front End of the STEM Teacher Pipeline: Early Career STEM Teachers' Field Experiences and Perceptions of Preparation. CALDER Working Paper No. 254-0721
You May Also Be Interested In
National Board Certification as a Signal of Cooperating Teacher Quality
Dan Goldhaber, John Krieg, Roddy Theobald, Grace Falken
COVID's Under-the-Radar Experiment with Teacher Licensure
Michael DeArmond, Dan Goldhaber, Sydney Payne
CTE Teachers and Non-Test Outcomes for Students With and Without Disabilities
Roddy Theobald, Dan Goldhaber, Erica Mallett Moore