An Evaluation of the Teacher Education Program at William Penn College

Abstract

The problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the undergraduate teacher education program at William Penn College based upon a survey of the graduates' perceptions of the program from 1983-1987, as to the effectiveness and expected benefits of the program. Procedure. Graduate records were used to identify the names and addresses of all William Penn College teacher education graduates from May 1983 through August 1987. All students were identified as having graduated with a teaching certificate from the state of Iowa. The number of graduates who comprised the total population under consideration was 194. The survey was designed to obtain perceived achievement of program objectives and of program objectives relating to job importance. The original mailing was followed by three sets of phone calls to all graduates. These calls resulted in a return of 74 percent of the surveys to graduates. The data represented the percentage of responses and mean values of the program objectives. The data was divided between elementary graduates, secondary graduates, elementary supervisors, and secondary supervisors according to the seven stated hypotheses. MANOVA tests and a nonparametric test were used to test the hypotheses. Findings. The graduates' perceptions of their program objectives were significant for each of the seven hypotheses. Significance (P<.05) was found between the mean values by groups. Graduates were satisfied about the perceived achievement of program objectives. There were significant differences between groups. Conclusions. There is a relationship between the graduate's major (elementary, secondary) and the graduates perceived achievement of certain program objectives and their job importance regarding the concepts by which the education program was founded upon at William Penn College. Recommendations. Further research is recommended to continue as a follow-up study of the teacher education program based upon the program objectives. These studies may determine areas of change due to changing demands placed upon the teaching profession.