An Exploratory Study On The Assessment Of Pre-Service Teacher Dispositions By Teacher Education Programs In Iowa

147 leavesProblem: Within the higher education community there is discourse regarding teacher dispositions and the assessment of dispositions. Murray (2007) and Damon (2007) posited that additional scholarship and research were needed to provide a meaningful construct of dispositions. With this lack of consensus, teacher education programs need to explore dispositions and how best to assess them. Procedures: This quantitative (Creswell, 2012) study explored the background characteristics of teacher education programs in Iowa to determine if there were differences in the assessment of pre-service teacher dispositions. Data were gathered through a survey (Fink, 2009). Methods: A postpositivist worldview (Crotty, 1998) was used to explore the background characteristics of teacher education programs to determine if there were differences (Green & Salkind, 2011) in how teacher dispositions were assessed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (Johnson and Christensen, 2008; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Results: Analyses of the data revealed there were differences in the assessment of dispositions based on geographic location, Carnegie classification, teacher education enrollment, and the type of institution. Conclusions: The study hypothesized there would be differences in how programs assessed dispositions. Data indicated there were differences in when, who, how, and what dispositions were assessed. Recommendation: Recommendation include using varied methods to assess dispositions, providing students with ongoing feedback regarding dispositions, employing multiple assessors including student self-assessment, creating remediation plans when needed, and stressing the value and role of dispositions in effective teaching