Journal of Teacher Education XX(X) 1 –14 © 2012 American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

The extent to which students are prepared for postsecondary education and/or to effectively participate in the global econ-omy after completing their primary education is linked to the quality and quantity of educational experiences they have while they are in school, most of which may be mediated by their teachers. When students leave school underprepared for postsecondary study or for the workplace, educators and schools have commonly been indicted as having failed those students (e.g., Anderson, 2011; DeWeese, 2007; Postal & Roth, 2011). Although data clarifying the direct impact of teacher preparation on student achievement have been lim-ited (Koretz, 2002), some have cited the underpreparation of new teachers who may not be effective at the point they enter the profession as an important contributor to poor achieve-ment (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wykoff, 2009; Sawchuk, 2010). This argument and others have led to con-cerns regarding new teachers ’ readiness for the workforce, to calls for improving teacher preparation, and more recently, to interest in examining the achievement of students who are taught by new teachers who enter the profession through dif-ferent programs or pathways (Boyd et al., 2009). Although there is a clear need and desire for teachers and schools to help students overcome challenges to their suc-cess, the extent to which this is possible as well as the specific teacher characteristics and practices that might con-tribute to this end remain an active area of professional dis-course and inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005a