Predicting On-the-Job Teacher Success Based on a Group Assessment Procedure Used for Admission to Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of a group assessment procedure used as admission criteria into a teacher education program to predict future teaching success. Information was sought from principals within the state of Utah regarding the teaching success of 151 Utah State University graduates teaching in Utah public schools. Interviewed principals used a self-anchoring scale (1 = unsuccessful to 10 = highly successful) to “anchor” their beliefs about successful and unsuccessful teachers. Scores principals gave study participants when considering their success to other teachers on faculty were compared to scores teachers were given earlier as students by College of Education faculty during group assessment interviews prior to entering the teacher education program. Three ANOVAs using measures of teacher success obtained through principal interviews as dependent variables and using overall group assessment scores as the independent variable were run. Initially no relationship was found between group assessment scores and measures of teaching success. However, after high-academic achieving students who received average interview ratings were put into their own group, separate from lower-achieving average interviewees, statistically significant relationships between group assessment scores and teacher graduate success scores (p \u3c .048) and comparative principal evaluation scores (p \u3c .023) were found. This study sought to determine if group assessment scores were a better predictor of teacher success than academic admission criteria (ACT and GPA at time of admission). No relationship was found between teacher success based on principal interview data and either GPA at time of admission or ACT scores. Group assessment scores (recoded) are the only admission variable associated with future teaching success. Results from this study suggest teacher education programs may want to reexamine selection procedures that involve only measures of academic ability. Group interviews appear to be a better tool for identifying applicants who are more likely to succeed in the teaching profession. Data from principal interviews generated categorical information describing successful and unsuccessful teacher characteristics are also provided in this study