Follow-up Study of the Impact of PETE: Accountability, Understanding and Continuous Improvement.

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

The El Paso Partnership for Excellence in Teacher Education (PETE), a project funded through the NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) program, has established a partnership of regional educational institutions including the University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College to reform science and mathematics teacher preparation. This follow-on project includes evaluation activities and research studies designed to document and assess the impact of PETE at the university, at the community college, in K-12 classrooms, and on new and future teachers. Evaluation research studies are designed to assess the impact of the project in five areas: institutionalization and sustainability, the relationship between teacher preparation and the context of school reform; new teacher knowledge and its relationship to student outcomes; the development of content knowledge and pedagogy in reformed courses; and the viability of a model of teacher development and assessment. Teacher induction activities designed and implemented by former CETP/PETE scholars under the direction of science and mathematics faculty members are providing support for novice teachers. Former CETP/PETE scholars pursuing graduate degrees in science and mathematics education engage in peer mentoring of new teachers and/or mentoring of future teachers and participate with faculty and evaluators in classroom research activities designed to support the data collection and analyses of the proposed evaluation research studies. The evaluation studies are linked to the CETP Core Summative Evaluation Study, an NSF-funded project at the University of Minnesota, through the alignment of CETP Core evaluation Questions with evaluation research questions specific to the PETE context. To strengthen the collegiality among former CETP/PETE Scholars pursuing graduate degrees, new teachers, and faculty members, new teacher induction activities will be designed and implemented by former scholars under the direction of science and mathematics faculty members. The project is assessing the impact of PETE and activities designed to increase the likelihood of new teachers remaining in the profession.