An Ecobehavioral Assessment of the Teaching Behaviors of Teacher Candidates During Their Special Education Internship Experiences

In the last 20 years, teacher preparation programs have come under close scrutiny by the public and governmental agencies charged with monitoring teacher quality and the academic achievement of American students. Both regular and special education teacher preparation programs struggle with the requirement to collect valid and reliable evidence of teacher candidate performance and their effect on student learning. This study incorporated an ecobehavioral assessment tool (MS-CISSAR) in the evaluation of 13 special education teacher candidates during their internship experiences. Special education teacher candidates taught in deaf education classrooms and self-contained and resource rooms for students with disabilities. Results showed that the instructional arrangements, teaching behaviors and student responses were similar to studies using inservice teachers and students with disabilities as subjects. The incorporation of data gathered through the MS-CISSAR program could be used to meet university and NCATE requirements for evidence of teacher candidate performance.