Of all the parts of teacher education, none is more important than clinical practice—also known as student teaching. In this report, NCTQ rates teacher prep programs on how well they prepare aspiring teachers against two, distinct but complementary standards to better understand the quality of clinical practice:
- The Clinical Practice standard, which addresses three elements of clinical practice that have an outsized effect on its overall value (the length, the number of times the aspiring teacher is observed and given feedback, and whether the teacher prep program ensures the candidate is match with a highly-qualified cooperating teacher), and
- The Classroom Management standard, which examines whether teacher candidates are expected to demonstrate skills such as establishing rules and routines, and reinforcing positive behavior during clinical practice.
The analysis offers clear recommendations for how to strengthen teacher preparation in these areas and highlights examples of programs who are leading the way.