An analysis of the role expectations for cooperating teachers in the laboratory phase of the teacher education program at the University of Houston

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of the cooperating teacher in the University of Houston Teacher Education Program as it was perceived by student teachers, cooperating teachers, cooperating principals, and university supervisors. Procedures. An instrument, developed by Dr. Harold Crouse for the University of Wisconsin Teacher Education Program and refined by Dr. George C. Stoumbis for the University of Oregon Teacher Education Program, was selected to assist in ascertaining the role expectations for the cooperating teacher. This forty-seven item questionnaire assisted in the identification of significant behavioral tasks and attributes frequently suggested for the cooperating teacher. The data for this investigation were provided by student teachers, cooperating teachers, cooperating principals, and university supervisors participating in the University of Houston Teacher Education Program during the fall semester of the 1968-1969 academic year. The data were then processed through the Scientific Data System Sigma 7. This process established percentage tables to demonstrate consensus of expectations held by each of the groups reporting. Significant differences among the groups for the expectations held for the cooperating teacher were indicated by the use of the chi-square statistical technique. [...]