What Is Competent Beginning Teaching? A Review of the Literature

What does it mean to be a competent beginning teacher? This review melds findings from the literature on effective teaching with those of learning to teach in order to answer this question. It begins with a discussion of problems encountered in interpreting these bodies of research. Next, differences between beginning and experienced teachers are discussed in three broad domains of teaching tasks: preactive, interactive, and postactive. In the conclusion, recommendations are offered regarding what should be measured in performance-based assessments for teacher licensure.