Examining the Impact of Structured Clinical Experiences within a School-University Partnership on Student-Teacher Candidate Instructional Interactions

Abstract Educator preparation programs are under pressure to demonstrate their effectiveness in producing teachers that impact P-12 student learning. As a result, programs must investigate organizational features that are powerful for preparing teacher candidates to enter the classroom. This manuscript describes the development of an intensive, structured field experience delivered in partnership with a local district. Using the CLASS observation instrument (Pianta et al., Upper elementary/secondary CLASS manual. Teachstone, 2012), the investigation compared student-teacher candidate interactions between those who participated in the experience and those who participated in the traditional preparation program. Results revealed that candidates who participated in the structured clinical experience scored higher than their peers on the CLASS observation instrument in the areas of supporting students’ emotional needs, providing instructional opportunities, and learner engagement during the student teaching semester. Recommendations for future research include longitudinal analyses that utilize direct student-growth data as well as principal observations to measure direct impact on student learning.