Does Performance-Based Teacher Education Work? Case Studies of a Model Curriculum for Vocational Teacher Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The Performance-Based Teacher Education (PBTE) curriculum developed by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education has been widely adopted by colleges and universities training vocational education teachers. In order to determine whether PBTE works, two sites using PBTE--Temple University and the University of Central Florida--were studied in depth; results were verified through conducting telephone interviews and surveys covering seventy-one additional PBTE programs. Three levels of effects of PBTE were investigated: (1) effects on vocational teacher education programs; (2) effects on vocational teachers; and (3) effects on vocational education classroom and students, with the following results. It was found that PBTE has precipated significant changes in many vocational teacher education programs, helped university vocational education departments survive crises of declining enrollment, and made teacher education more productive. There is evidence that PBTE is having long-term impact on improving the caliber of vocational education teachers, especially in the areas of instructional planning, organizing instruction, student reinforcement, individualizing instruction, and student evaluation. PBTE also has contributed to vocational education classrooms by increasing the use of competency-based techniques with students, and improving the performance of local school administrators in evaluating teachers. Overall, respondents gave PBTE very high marks. The few negative comments mostly were criticism of performance-based education in general rather than of PBTE itself. (KC)