Understandings, Beliefs, and Reported Decision Making of First-Year Teachers from Different Reading Teacher Preparation Programs

In this study we followed 101 preservice teachers through their first year of teaching in order to explore differences in the understandings, beliefs, and decision making of beginning teachers from 3 types of reading teacher preparation programs. 73 of the elementary teachers graduated from programs at 1 of 8 colleges or universities identified by the International Reading Association's National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction as excellent in undergraduate reading teacher preparation. 3 of these recognized programs were reading specialization programs (i.e., a major or minor in reading) housed at universities that also offered a general education program; the remaining 5 featured concentrated experiences and courses in reading that all undergraduates enjoyed. The reported experiences of these 40 reading specialization program teachers and 33 graduates of reading embedded programs were compared with the experiences of 28 graduates from general education programs from the 3 sites that offered a general program. Structured telephone interviews were conducted at 3 points in the beginning teachers' first year of teaching (September, January, June). Inductive data-driven analyses yielded 3 themes-instructional decision making, negotiations, and community-that distinguished the responses of graduates of the IRA recognized programs from those of graduates of general education programs. Graduates of recognized programs tended to speak in clear and thoughtful ways about their instruction, focus on assessing and meeting students' needs, and were more likely to report seeking ongoing support for and development of their own learning. These findings were robust for graduates across the 3 reading specialization sites as well as the 5 other recognized programs, suggesting that the overall quality and features of a program rather than its type or label can make a difference in preservice teacher learning.