Kids Say the Darndest Things: PETE Program Assessment through the Eyes of Students

Abstract

An ever-increasing focus on accountability in teacher education has augmented the importance of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs to develop procedures for assessing their candidates and completers—the student teachers (STs). Finding out what students think, know, and feel about STs’ teaching ability is yet another valuable source of data that can assist in the assessment process. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine students’ perspectives of STs’ effectiveness as a window into the effectiveness of a PETE program, and (b) to identify students’ ability to provide valuable feedback to PETE programs on how well STs meet the NASPE National Standards for Beginning Physical Education Teachers (NSBPET). Using the NASPE/NCATE standards as a framework, a set of interview questions was developed to elicit students’ perspectives of the STs’ performance. Findings were inductively analyzed and indicated that STs were able to meet some of the NASPE/NCATE standards and that students can be valuable data sources regarding STs’ competence in Content Knowledge, Diverse Learners, Communication, Management and Motivation, Planning and Instruction, Student Assessment, and Reflection. Students were less able to provide insight into STs’ performance in Growth and Development, Technology, and Collaboration. Overall, these findings suggest that students can be counted on as a source of evidence to complement a thorough and fruitful program assessment.