New teachers' perceptions on their preparation: A follow-up study

This research investigated new public school teachers' perceptions of their level of preparation in the area classroom management and how prepared they were during their first year of teaching to handle various classroom and discipline issues. The study updated research done on this topic that used a 1999--2000 public school teacher dataset (Cleveland, 2008). The investigation was conducted using existing survey data regarding percentages of new teachers who felt well prepared in the area of classroom management. The data were disaggregated by teacher gender, teacher level, licensure program, whether or not they held a Master's degree in education, and percentage of minority students in the school. The relationship between length of student teaching experience and new teacher perception of classroom management preparation was examined. New teachers' perceptions of their preparation in classroom management and their correlation to job satisfaction and commitment to the teaching profession were investigated. The final category of consideration was new teachers' self-reported professional development and induction needs in the area of classroom management.;This study used data from the 2007--2008 Public School Teacher Questionnaire from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). A survey design was used to identify quantitative, numeric trends regarding new teachers' perceptions of classroom management preparation and findings from the sample were generalized to the population (Creswell, 2009). Descriptive statistics were used to identify new teacher perceptions of level of preparation in classroom management through percentages, as well as to describe the level of priority assigned by new teachers in the area of classroom management for their professional development needs. Inferential statistics were used to test for a correlation between the level of preparation in classroom management and new teachers' job satisfaction and commitment to the teaching profession. A multivariate analysis was used to determine if the length of a new teacher's student teaching experience predicted his/her perception of first-year teaching classroom management preparation. The results of this study not only updated existing research in this area, but they also informed current practices of teacher education programs in the area of classroom management preparation by showing the trend in new teacher perception of classroom management preparation.