Date of Award
2-1-1990
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
In a major effort to alter improve the way in which new teachers receive actual classroom training, colleges and universities across the nation are implementing alternative models of teacher training other than the standard student teaching. Because of the public concerns about the competence of public school teachers and teacher training institutions, seven campuses of the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems offer approved internship programs. The purposes of this study were (1) to identify nationally recognized internship programs, (2) to compare the internship programs differed in the selected universities within the CSU and UC systems, and (3) to evaluate the effectiveness of the University of California, Irvine's teacher internship program as it now exists. The samples for the study involved five different populations that included internship programs in the CSU and UC systems in education that had been implemented and in progress for at least one year at the time of the study (N=7), coordinators of the internship programs (N=7), intern teachers currently enrolled in the internship program at the selected universities (N=140), intern alumni at the University of California, Irvine who had completed the program within the past three years (N=90), and public school practitioners currently involved in UCI's internship program (N-35). The design of the study involved the development and administration of four questionnaires to address the following research questions:(1) What are the criteria for the selection of students for the internship in each of the selected universities? (2) What is the organizational structure of each program within the selected universities? (3) What resources are available to the intern teachers at the district and institutional levels? (4) What is the permanent job placement percentage of interns at the University of California, Irvine? (5) How do practitioners rate the preparation of intern teachers for job placement at the University of California, Irvine? Date from the first questionnaire were reviewed to determine the organizational structure of each of the intern programs at the selected universities. Data from the second questionnaire were examined to determine any significant difference in each of the programs in the opinion of the interns currently enrolled. Data from the third questionnaire were examined to determine the effectiveness of the intern program at UCI in the opinion of the intern alumni from the past three years. A rating on the preparation of intern teachers by the public school practitioners resulted from the responses to the fourth questionnaires. Analysis of the data led to the following conclusions: 1. The traditional four-year model of teacher training cannot give adequate attention to all of the necessary components of teacher education. 2. Fifth-year and extended teacher training programs are needed to solve the deficiencies in teacher education preparation. 3. Internship programs in teacher training jointly involving public schools and colleges/universities are being encouraged by many states across the nation. 4. The internship model of teacher training has been implemented with a high degree of success. 5. Based on the ratings from recent graduates of UCI’s intern program, the internship model is rated "good" for training teachers. 6. Based on the ratings from interns currently enrolled in the program from the selected universities, overall rating was "good" with California State University at San Bernardino having an overall rating of "excellent." 7. Public school practitioners felt that the professional performance and academic preparation of intern teachers at UCI was "excellent." The majority of the public school practitioners would hire the intern teacher upon completion of the program. The review of the literature supported the concept that internship in education is an extremely valuable learning setting in preparing teacher candidates for successful teaching. Based on the findings of the surveys, the following recommendations were made: 1. Intern teachers are certified for one year to teach. The intern teacher assumes the same responsibilities as those of any first year teacher; therefore, the public school district should make a concerted effort to increase the stipend for the intern teacher to the state minimum salary. 2. The admission policy as it now stands at the University of California, Irvine restricts many potential teacher candidates from applying to the University of California, Irvine Teacher Education Intern Program. A revision of the admission policy should be accomplished that would weigh factors other than the grade point average, such as experience working with children, professionalism, and commitment to teaching and children. 3. With revision of the state framework, course materials at the university should reflect the content of the texts being used in the public school system. Faculty should update the course content of methods courses to reflect these changes. 4. A preliminary classroom experience by the intern candidate should be a requirement. The transition from preservice to inservice teaching can be a traumatic experience as intern teachers move from the college classroom into the reality of everyday teaching. Therefore the candidate should experience less anxiety when entering into an internship. 5. Society in the 1980s and 1990s has been characterized by increased incidence of single parent and two bread winner families, and schools are asked to give added attention to consumer economics, health and substance abuse, environmental education. Course should be offered to prepare the intern teachers for those changes in society.