This study examined trends in teacher candidates' educational beliefs over time. Participants were 84 teacher education candidates enrolled in several sections of an introductory-level education class for education majors at a southeastern university. They were administered the Witcher-Travers Survey of Educational Beliefs (WTSEB) both on the first day of class and at the end of the one-semester course. Low scores on the WTSEB indicate a proclivity toward transmissivism, high scores suggest a tendency toward progressivism, and mid-range scores indicate an eclectic philosophy. Participants were also asked to identify, to rank, and to define between three and six characteristics that they believed effective teachers possessed or demonstrated. A paired-samples t-test revealed a statistically significant increase in WTSEB scores. The effect size associated with this increase was .29, suggesting a moderate increase. By the end of the course, candidates, on average, demonstrated a more progressive orientation. A multiple regression analysis, using the posttest-pretest difference educational belief scores as the dependent variable, revealed that teacher candidates who believed that ethical behavior was a foremost characteristic for teachers to possess tended to experience the greatest shift toward progressivism. (Contains 25 references.) (Author/SM)