CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background Information
Theory and research of teacher effectiveness has been a
concern of teacher education in the immediate past (5)(26)(47).
(48)(21)(22). However, in the last decade, a movement that has potential for renewing and revitalizing teacher education has been rapidly gaining momentum. Educators, researchers, and the public in general are looking to competency-based teacher education as a means of effecting needed change in our system of education. "Some see competency-based teacher education as the vehicle through which teacher education itself may approximate the model of individualized and personalized instruction that it long has held forth as ideal for education in the schools" (33:viii).
As evidence of the implications of this movement on education, Houston and Hlowsam in 1972 identified seventeen states that either had announced certification changes to be based on competencies or had declared their interest or intentions (33:ix) (36). Another evidence supporting the move was the emphasis placed on it by the ten United States Office of Education Elementary Models Projects.
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