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Given the focus on developing highly-qualified teachers to improve education (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003), teacher education programs face increasing responsibility to prepare new teachers who can effectively enhance learning in all students. Standards and assessment criteria developed by national organizations in the United States address the qualifications of beginning as well as experienced teachers and all emphasize student learning. The aim is that beginning teachers will not just manage classroom activities but assess and promote student understanding. However, the extent to which novice teachers can focus on instructional outcomes before mastering classroom management is a matter of debate. Whereas some researchers propose that beginning teachers need years to move from concerns about management to concerns about student learning, others contend that a shift can occur during teacher preparation (Conway & Clark, 2003).
This study explores this issue by examining preservice teachers' descriptions of effective and ineffective teaching experiences near the end of their preparation program. Using written documents collected over five years, the study specifically investigates the extent to which preservice teachers (1) focused on instruction or classroom management, (2) identified student understanding in their descriptions, and (3) considered factors related to student learning in their reasoning about their actions.
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework for this study draws from two bodies of literature: the teacher development process and reflective practice. Teacher development research has highlighted beginning teachers' focus on management concerns and how these concerns shift over time to instructional impacts. Research on reflective practice suggests that critical reflection helps prepare beginning teachers for both classroom management and instruction. This study draws upon these two research literatures to examine the extent to which preservice teachers who are engaged in reflective practice consider instructional impacts by the end of teacher preparation.
Researchers contend that the process of learning to teach and to make professional judgments is developmental. Beginning with Fuller's stages of teachers' concerns (1969) and extending for decades, various theories have been proposed and examined to document teacher professional development (Berliner, 1994; Black & Ammon, 1992; Conway & Clark, 2003; Feiman-Nemser, 2001; Hall & Loucks, 1978; Mevarech, 1995). Although some researchers propose fixed, sequential stages, others suggest a more flexible stage approach to teacher development that takes contextual and personal...