Voices Of Cooperating Teachers: Comparing Experiences Of Professional Development School And Traditional Student Teaching Models

This mixed-methods sequential study compared the experiences of cooperating teachers (CT) in a Professional Development School program and a traditional student teaching program. Cooperating teachers’ perspectives were gathered through an on-line survey and interviews. Information gathered was related to the preparation for acting as a CT, involvement with the student teaching process, professional benefits of acting as a CT, impact of the experience on their own teaching, and suggestions for improvements to the teacher preparation programs. Results indicate that no significant differences were found between the experiences of CTs in the different programs. Findings did reveal that CTs desire greater participation in the process and offer suggestions for improvement related to preparation program requirements such as length of student teaching, curricular knowledge, and edTPA