Examining Applicants for Admission and Completion of an Online Teacher Certification Program (Report‪)‬

In the introduction of their monograph, A Good Teacher in Every Classroom, Darling-Hammond and BaratzSnowden (2005) note that more than one hundred thousand new teachers enter classrooms across the country each year. These beginning teachers vary greatly in the professional skills and knowledge they bring to the classroom with many having little or no formal learning experiences regarding essential knowledge and clinical experiences needed to succeed in the classroom. Darling-Hammond and Baratz-Snowden continue by listing the following traits exhibited by teachers whose students exhibit strong academic achievement. These authors stress that teacher preparation has evolved to the degree that there is agreement on what beginning teachers need to know in order to enter the classroom with professional competence to adequately serve the very first students they teach. Two other recent policy papers supported by the National Council on Teacher Quality and the Education Commission of the States provide accounts regarding whether empirical research supports commonly held notions and practices applied to teacher certification, selection, retention and compensation. The reports, Increasing the Odds: How Good Policies Can Yield Better Teachers (National Council on Teacher Quality, n. d.) and Eight Questions on Teacher Preparation: What Does the Research Say? (Allen, 2003) examine factors affecting policies enacted by state governments and local school districts in deciding who will be admitted to the teaching profession. Drawing from these sources, it is evident the assumed relations among variables (professional and personal characteristics) for selecting and preparing tomorrow's teachers need additional examination given the following findings reported in these reports.