Teacher Candidate Dispositions Identified by NCATE-Accredited Colleges of Education: How Professional Educators are Disposed Toward the Students, Curriculum, and Reasons They Teach

The education profession has a great deal of information on potential teachers\u27 knowledge and technical skills, but the study of affective attributes that are the human interface between teaching and student learning is still evolving. The central phenomenon exmined in this study is the affective and attitudinal attributes, or dispositions of teachers as defined by colleges of education. The researcher analyzed conceptual frameworks and affective attributes in Institutional Reports from colleges reviewed by the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), whose standards require reporting on dispositions. The dispositional factors that these colleges surmise predict successful practice were coded and categorized, then compared with the prior literature regarding this phenomenon and student learning factor\u27s. Student learning factors were drawn from existing cognitive science research with potential parallels to the dispositions identified in the qualitative study. Dispositional codes were analyzed and categorized using a developmental model, resulting in four primary categories and nine subcategories: Cognitive Knowledge Thinking Skills Emotional/Values Personal Interpersonal Community Social Character Leadership Contextual Structure for Learning Philosophy Frequencies and rank orders of the specific dispositions identified are provided. Graphs comparing dispositional characteristics in the Institutional Report analysis to the Interstate New Teacher Support and Assessment Consortium (INTASC) Ten Core Principles are included within the discussion of findings. Subcategories of valued teacher dispositions were found to have marked similarity across the diverse colleges and universities. However, little consensus occurred in regard to the research literature-bases used by the colleges and almost no information regarding specific assessments was available at this level of analysis. Recommendations are included that encourage greater collaboration within the profession and across other professional domains to better articulate the research base and determine appropriate hierarchical measurement scales for evaluation. Recommendations for college of teacher education self-examination of dispositional research and assessments within the developmental model, with an emphasis on incorporation of cognitive science research are also provided. The self-examination includes probe questions for mapping where dispositions arc addressed in the program structure, validating the research base, and mapping evaluations across the program