Leveraging Differences Between Clinical Teachers and Teacher Candidates to Support Growth in Professional Development Schools

• In Event: Practices Related to Teacher Candidates in Professional Development Schools

Abstract

Evident in the literature is the importance of the Clinical Teacher (CT) -Teacher Candidate (TC) relationship to support candidate success and school renewal in order to better serve all children. To improve the quality of this relationship during the final year within a 4-year undergraduate residency program, an instrument was developed to aid in matching TCs with CTs, specifically thinking about the needs of our diverse teacher candidate pool. A review of four years of data collected during the matching process highlighted the differences in orientations and expectations of CTs and TCs, revealing an untapped potential for the development of pedagogy to better support candidate success and simultaneous renewal in Professional Development Schools.

Authors

• Paula Gallegos, University of Colorado - Denver

• Barbara Seidl, University of Colorado - Denver

• Cindy Gutierrez, University of Colorado - Denver

• Susan C Connors, University of Colorado - Denver

• Bridget Nuechterlein, University of Colorado - Denver