Assessment of Case-Based Instruction in a Graduate Educational Psychology Course: Preparing P-12 Teachers for Classroom Management

Introduction

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is currently the sole accrediting body for educator preparation programs in the United States. As such, CAEP standards are now implemented in several advanced-level programs to promote teacher candidates’ teaching potential in P-12 schools (CAEP, 2020). Teacher preparation programs at the graduate level require that teacher candidates take an educational psychology course for their professional certification. Often, courses such as classroom management, cultural differences, adolescent development, and instructional assessment are offered by educator preparation programs to develop teacher candidates’ content and pedagogical knowledge in their field of professional specialization. This chapter shares my (i.e., a teacher educator’s) self-study of an advanced-level educational psychology course, Classroom Management, completed by teacher candidates for their Master of Science in Education degree at a public college in the United States.

Since the CAEP (2020) standards for accreditation at the advanced-level programs are based on two principles: a) development of competent and caring P-12 teachers, and b) use of evidence for maintaining and enhancing the quality of teacher preparation programs, teacher educators, as education preparation providers, are expected to document evidence of teacher candidates’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions appropriate for their professional specialty based on proficiency measures used in their courses. The goal is for teacher educators to then use the documented evidence to monitor, evaluate, and improve their courses and teacher preparation practices (Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2016). Given that the accreditation process calls for self-assessment and evidence-based analysis of educator preparation programs, teacher educators are also expected to infuse research and development in their teacher preparation courses to expand their own knowledge base of effective teacher preparation practices.

This chapter showcases my self-assessment and analysis of evidence-based teaching practice and teacher preparation measures, as a teacher educator, from an advanced-level educational psychology course, Classroom Management, completed by P-12 teachers from 2016 through 2020. More specifically, my assessment and analysis related to conceptualization, development, implementation, and improvement of my teacher preparation practice are narrated to pinpoint impact of such practice on P-12 teachers’ preparation to manage learning of diverse students in public school classrooms. Select case-based activities are illustrated to portray a trajectory of course development, implementation, and improvement of my teacher preparation practice in the classroom management course.

Due to increasing scrutiny and expectation of accountability from teacher preparation programs as producers of competent and caring P-12 teachers, professional development of teacher educators is crucial. Teacher educators’ professional development related to teacher preparation therefore could be advanced through a framework connected to understanding of the challenges and expectations of the teacher education enterprise, and the place of scholarship in the academia (Loughran, 2014). Action research is a mode of investigation which enables practitioners to assess and reflect on effectiveness of existing practice in their own instructional setting with the goal of improving practice. Through a systematic cycle of planning, action, observation, and reflection, action research can lead to improvement in practice, thereby facilitating personal and professional development of practitioners (Koshy, 2005). Since action research serves as a venue for teacher educators to reflect on their own instructional practice, with the goal of advancing P-12 teachers’ classrooms practice (Anwar, 2016; Casey, 2012; Kitchen & Stevens, 2008), this chapter illustrates action research for improving my teacher preparation practices.