STUDENT TEACHING by

A pilot study was conducted to determine if a program providing early classroom teaching contacts for undergraduate students leads to graduates who are better prepared. It was hypothesized that participants in a preservice program would be judged more favorably in terms of general performance than would past students who had not had such an experience. Classroom supervisors of these individuals were asked to evaluate them in comparison to other student teachers from Western Illinois University that they had supervised. Fifteen supervisors were mailed questionnaires, which made no mention of the student's preservice experience, and were asked to rate the student teacher *weaker thank * *same as, * of *better than * previous student teachers. Resultb indicated that preservice programs favorably affected performance in student teaching. Some positive characteristics of the students with preservice training included a greater speed of adjustment to the classroom routine and stronger classroom management and leadership skills. In conclusion, student teachers who had participated in a preservice program were judged significantly better than past student teachers on 7 out of 17 items, which supports the intuition that preservice program can lead to a better-equipped graduate. (JCW