Development and Validation of a Music Teacher Candidate Assessment

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Music Teacher Candidate Assessment (MTCA), a rubric-based tool for evaluating student teachers in music classrooms. Factor analyses of scores issued by university supervisors (USs), cooperating teachers (CTs), and student teachers (STs) supported construct validity, explained 53.5% of the variance, and revealed two subscales: Pedagogy (I) and Professionalism (II). Concurrent validity resulted from a strong correlation ( r s = .83) between evaluators’ rubric averages and holistic ratings of performance. Inter-factor correlation ( r = .65) confirmed discriminant validity. All groups exceeded the α ≥ .80 threshold for acceptable internal consistency on both subscales with no increase by item deletion. Interrater reliability showed moderate exact agreement ( M = 0.54, SD = 0.05) among USs, CTs, and STs. However, exact + adjacent agreement exceeded .90 on all items and averaged .96 ( SD = 0.03) overall. The MTCA provides teacher educators with a reliable, discipline-specific assessment and reflection tool for use during the student teaching practicum.