Does Teacher Education Produce Better Special Education Teachers?

Twenty traditionally licensed first-year teachers and 20 first-year teachers with emergency provisional licensure were observed and evaluated by an experienced supervisor, unaware of licensure status, using a teacher rating scale with three subscales, based on a framework for teaching developed by Danielson (1996). The subscales included planning and preparation, classroom environment, and instruction. Teachers also completed self-ratings on a similar scale. Across all measures, traditionally licensed teachers were rated statistically significantly higher than were teachers holding emergency provisional licensure. Differences between the two groups were substantial, with effect sizes exceeding 1.5 standard deviation units. In sharp contrast, the two teacher groups did not rate themselves significantly different in teaching competence.