PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATORS REGARDING MIDDLE SCHOOL/JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS/SKILLS AND CERTIFICATION, AND A PARADIGM FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS

Abstract

This study sought out the perceptions of middle school (any combination of grades 5-9) educators in 19 states regarding the specific learning experiences that should be included in the curriculum for the preparation of junior high/middle school teachers, the skills or characteristics that are needed by a junior high/middle school teacher to best meet the needs of the early adolescent, the desirability of a discrete middle school certificate and the reasons why or why not. Using the data collected, a paradigm was designed for a junior high/middle school teacher training program that reflected the best thinking of these educators. This middle school study utilized a modified Delphi Technique in surveying the perceptions of administrators, teachers holding secondary certificates and teachers holding elementary certificates currently employed at junior high/middle schools, North Central Association associate state chairmen, and college of education professors. The three primary points emerging from this study are (1) that the lines of communication need to be opened between educators in the junior high/middle schools and those at institutions where policies, teacher preparation programs and certification requirements regarding middle school education (and educators) are being formulated, (2) that those same policies, teacher preparation programs and certification requirements be formulated on the basis of research data gathered directly from those educators in junior high/middle schools, and (3) that a middle school teacher's characteristics are considered by those involved currently in middle school education to be more important than his/her skills.