ERIC Number: ED551389
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 225
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-1-2678-2726-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Evaluation of an Associate of Arts in Teaching Program at a Midwest Community College
Stuart, Diana Hyler
ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Missouri Baptist University
Community colleges in the state of Missouri began to offer a two-year degree known as the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) in 2007. Because this was a new degree for the state and only a few other states in the nation offered the degree, community colleges in Missouri were eager to measure the efficacy of the degree. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to determine if AAT graduates from this Midwestern community college were successful when they transferred to a four-year institution to continue their education and complete a baccalaureate degree. The participants of this study were AAT completers and the cooperating teachers who hosted them during their clinical field experience. Additional grade point information was provided by the three primary receiving transfer institutions. The independent variable was the completion of an AAT program. The qualitative components were the AAT completers' and cooperating teachers' perceptions collected via mail survey of students in the AAT program. The quantitative dependent variables were the AAT completers' attainment of higher than a 2.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale after the completion of the first semester of transfer to a baccalaureate institution and the achievement of higher than a 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale during the culminating clinical student teaching experience at the baccalaureate institution. The final dependent variable was the rating by both AAT completers and their host teachers on surveys where they rated their satisfaction with AAT preparation based upon the eleven Missouri Standards for Teacher Education Programs (MoSTEP) using a 4-point Likert scale. The investigational methodology utilized was a positive one-sample, one-tail t-test with a confidence interval of 95 percent. The research contained multiple data sets of both qualitative and quantitative data, and all data supported the hypothesis that the AAT had a positive impact on successful transfer of AAT graduates to four-year institutions. Implications from this study suggested that the AAT is a beneficial degree for community colleges to offer, and community colleges in other states could benefit from the data acquired in completion of this study. Partnerships between two and four-year institutions in teacher education have become increasingly more common, and the AAT ensures a standardization of the component of the educational program offered at the community college level. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Associate Degrees, Community Colleges, Teacher Education Programs, Mixed Methods Research, Program Effectiveness, College Graduates, College Transfer Students, Cooperating Teachers, Grade Point Average, Student Surveys, Teacher Surveys, Satisfaction, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Success
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Missouri
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A