Student teacher skill development - Clinical Practice Action Guide

Why this matters

Teaching is a complex job that requires practitioners to plan carefully for instruction and also to respond to students on the spot at every moment. To prepare for this career, aspiring teachers need field experiences that grow in difficulty, focused on using high-quality curricula and supplemented by opportunities to engage in additional activities like parent-teacher conferences and Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. All of these experiences should be coupled with feedback and coaching to help candidates improve, which can make them more effective when they have a class of their own.¹

What the field says

In NCTQ surveys, two-thirds of school districts and 94% of prep programs agreed that clinical opportunities should be woven throughout a candidate’s preparation, and 70% of prep programs report currently embedding clinical experiences prior to full-time student teaching.

Key Components and Actions

Aspiring teachers need ample time in the classroom to observe effective teachers at work, teach practice lessons aligned with their content coursework, and evaluate and give feedback on student work. Allowing student teachers to take on greater responsibility, working toward teaching the entire school day, helps them to become more adept at the complexities of teaching. This process can take many forms (e.g., co-teaching), but at no point should the student teacher serve as the teacher of record.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Embed field experiences in methods courses throughout the teacher prep program.

Gradually increase the scope of field experiences (e.g., from observing to tutoring to small-group instruction to whole-group instruction).

Align field experiences to coursework in terms of content and methods used.

Provide specific guidance to student teachers and cooperating teachers that the student teachers should take on increasing responsibility, extending to grading student work, teaching full lessons, and potentially teaching full days. Specific structures may vary based on approach (e.g., allowing for co-teaching).

Actions for school districts

Communicate curricula and pacing for students (i.e., scope and sequence) to partner prep programs so they are familiar with what teachers are teaching and when.

Facilitate prep program efforts to find field experience opportunities that align with the content and methods candidates are learning.

With prep programs and cooperating teachers, clarify expectations for student teachers to take on increasing responsibility.

Actions for states

Create a streamlined, statewide system for candidates to complete background checks needed to work with students.

Provide guidance or a model on the types of field experiences candidates should engage in prior to full-time student teaching.

Set minimum expectations for a gradual release of responsibility, considering different structures or approaches to clinical practice.

Teachers often fail to assign students grade-level work and may grant grades that are too high, providing a false impression of students’ academic ability. In fact, research suggests that higher grading standards improve student learning. Student teachers need to develop an understanding of what grade-level appropriate work looks like and how to grade in a way that accurately reflects students’ knowledge and skills. Additionally, more districts are implementing high-quality curricula, which student teachers need to understand how to teach.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Provide student work samples for a specific grade and assignment to help student teachers calibrate what grade-level work looks like and how it should be evaluated.

Align coursework for candidates with the student skills and knowledge expectations outlined in the state learning standards.

Place candidates in districts that use high-quality, research-aligned curricula.

Assign and assess student teachers on their ability to analyze, prepare, or implement lessons from existing high-quality curricula used by partner districts, rather than requiring candidates to design lessons from scratch.

Provide guidance to student teachers on how to participate in common planning meetings, data team meetings, IEP meetings, and professional development sessions.

Actions for school districts

Provide student work samples / provide opportunities for student teachers to review samples of student work (e.g., ask cooperating teachers to share sets of student work on a specific assignment).

Provide partner prep programs with information about curricula in use across the district.

Provide student teachers with “teacher copies” or other necessary information about curricula used in their placement site.

Invite student teachers to attend common planning meetings, data team meetings, IEP meetings, and professional development sessions with their cooperating teachers.

Actions for states

Create a bank of anonymous student work and assignments aligned with the curricula most commonly in use across the state.

Provide funding to purchase “teacher copy” curriculum materials for student teachers.

Set standards for teacher prep programs to support candidates to identify high-quality curriculum materials.

Student teachers are more likely to be effective as new teachers when they receive at least five observations from their program supervisor. Regular observations with written feedback at regular intervals throughout the placement, from both the program supervisor and the cooperating teacher, give student teachers more opportunities to improve their teaching. Observation rubrics may focus on the student teachers’ actions as well as the work students are doing in class (e.g., level of cognitive demand). The field agrees: Recent surveys show more than half of districts and roughly nine in 10 prep programs think that the number of observations and the categories of feedback used are the “most important” or “very important” aspects of clinical practice.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Require program supervisors to observe and provide written feedback to student teachers at least five times during the student teaching experience, spaced out so that student teachers have time to implement suggested changes.

Ensure that the observation instrument is aligned to state, district, and prep program expectations for effective practice.

Differentiate observation instruments by stage and intensity of clinical experience (e.g., observation instruments for tutoring will look different from those for full-class teaching) and by whether the instrument is designed for formative or summative evaluation.

Consider using the observation instrument used by the state or district for in-service teachers for at least some observations.

Actions for school districts

Support cooperating teachers to conduct formal observations (with written feedback) and informal observations of student teachers throughout the placement.

Support cooperating teachers to use the district’s observation instrument (or a modified version of it) so that student teachers receive feedback reflective of expectations for effective practice once they begin teaching.

Actions for states

In states with a statewide observation instrument (or recommended instrument), provide training to program supervisors and cooperating teachers on using the instrument.

Create observation instruments that align with existing in-service observation instruments and focus on skills pre-service teachers need to demonstrate.

Prep programs, states, and school districts should jointly determine the knowledge and skills that candidates need to attain prior to and during clinical practice (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogy, classroom management, dispositions, understanding of state standards). These outcomes can inform coursework candidates take prior to and concurrently with student teaching.

Denotes shared action between stakeholders

Actions for prep programs

Work with the state and partner districts to identify the specific knowledge and skills candidates will need to be successful during student teaching and align coursework accordingly.

Incorporate feedback from student teachers, cooperating teachers, and district partnership meetings.

Actions for school districts

Work with the state and prep program partners to identify the specific knowledge and skills candidates will need to be successful during student teaching.

Provide specific feedback to prep programs about areas in which student teachers need additional instruction and support.

Actions for states

Work with district and prep program partners to identify the specific knowledge and skills candidates will need to be successful during student teaching.

Longer student teaching placements are associated with greater teacher retention, but not necessarily greater teacher effectiveness.

Preparation programs have found success with a range of durations for their student teaching placements. The duration of a student teaching placement should be determined by the extent to which the experience provides student teachers with hallmarks of quality, including:

An instructionally effective cooperating teacher
A range of placements in diverse schools with positive school climates
Frequent observations with feedback from the program supervisor

Candidates need a long enough student teaching experience to take on increasingly complex roles, receive feedback, and make improvements to their teaching. But after a point, more is not always better.

Be sure that any move toward a longer placement does not reduce the quality of the experience in other ways, such as lowering the quality of cooperating teachers available to mentor student teachers or dissuading aspiring teachers who cannot afford to go so long without paid work.

But what about...

Student teacher observation forms

The quality of an observation instrument can greatly improve the feedback that candidates provide.

Learn more

Early field experiences

Full-time student teaching should not be an aspiring teacher’s first time working with students.

Learn more

Embedding high-quality instructional materials

Candidates need to learn to skillfully adapt and use lessons from a high-quality curriculum to meet the needs of their students.

Learn more

Preparing candidates to work with English learners

Every aspiring teacher needs to be prepared to support those students and should have practice working with ELs.

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Meet the case studies

All Focus Area 5 Case Studies

Component 1Field experiences that increase in difficulty and specialization

Component 2Grade-level work and high-quality curricula

Component 3Frequent observations with strong observation instruments

Component 4Clearly defined learning outcomes for student teachers

Results

Sort Alphabetical

Western Governors University

Scaling clinical placement to over 4,800 districts across the country—without sacrificing quality

Utah

Financial support for student teachers

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

An apprenticeship program helps more people complete teacher prep and stay in the classroom

Texas

Establish a clear vision for high-quality preparation, and help less prepared teachers rise to meet it

Spokane Public Schools

Using a data portal to streamline placements and save time

Southeastern Louisiana University

Incorporating high-quality instructional materials and data throughout the program

Mount Saint Joseph University sign with flowers.

Mount St. Joseph University

Building close and intentional relationships with schools

Michigan

Replicating a medical model—including paid clinical practice—in teacher preparation

Massachusetts

Measuring whether every student teacher will be ready on day one

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Dedicating staff time to create a more streamlined, supportive, and attractive student teaching experience

Questions to consider

What early field experiences do candidates receive?
What skills should candidates practice, how are those experiences scaffolded, and how do candidates receive feedback?
What experiences are student teachers given to explore and implement high-quality instructional materials, both prior to and during clinical practice?
What resources do student teachers need to be able to implement high-quality instructional materials?
What observation instruments are used to give feedback to student teachers?
In what ways do the observation instruments align (or not) with the prep program’s expectations and expectations for candidates once they become in-service teachers?
How are observation instruments differentiated based on the type of experience (e.g., an early fieldwork experience vs. full-time student teaching) or based on the content or grade the student teacher is teaching?
What skills and knowledge do novice teachers need to be successful?
How are you defining learning outcomes for student teachers collaboratively, providing relevant instruction and practice opportunities for teacher candidates, and assessing those outcomes?

References

Boyd, D. J., Grossman, P. L., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2009). Teacher preparation and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 416–440.

Why this matters

What the field says

Key Components and Actions

Field experiences that increase in difficulty and specialization, culminating in full-time student teaching, and are accompanied by frequent feedback

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Grade-level work and high-quality curricula

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Frequent observations with strong observation instruments

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

Clearly defined learning outcomes for student teachers

Actions for prep programs

Actions for school districts

Actions for states

What about longer placements?

But what about...

Student teacher observation forms

Early field experiences

Embedding high-quality instructional materials

Preparing candidates to work with English learners

Western Governors University

Utah

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Texas

Spokane Public Schools

Southeastern Louisiana University

Mount St. Joseph University

Michigan

Massachusetts

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Questions to consider

Resources

Observation instruments

Tutoring

Embedding high-quality instructional materials

State guidelines

Other materials

References

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