Mostly Stability and Some Change in Lower-Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education in the United States from 1990-2018: Evidence from TALIS 2018

Abstract

This study leverages cross-sectional data collected via the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (N = 1907) to estimate national “trends” in pre-service teacher education (PSTE) from 1990 to 2018 in the United States. In particular, the study examines linear trends in the content emphases of U.S. lower-secondary PSTE and in this teacher population’s initial level of preparedness in various domains. Results indicate more stability than change over this period nationally. PSTE emphasis on classroom practice in some or all subject(s) taught, and on monitoring students’ development and learning, decreased in frequency over time. PSTE emphasis on use of information and communication technology for teaching increased over time. Only teacher preparedness ratings for the use of information and communication technology for teaching statistically increased from 1990-2018.

Acknowledgment

The author acknowledges the use of ChatGPT 4o (OpenAI, 2024) for assistance with the writing and debugging of select R code used during data analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Notes

1 The sampling weights and cluster membership variables were also included in the MCAR analysis, however the replicate weights were not due to multicollinearity.