Making the Grade: Predicting Retention in Undergraduate Teacher Education

Abstract

Researchers describe results from a longitudinal study of variables predicting retention in undergraduate teacher education. Selected teacher candidates' background characteristics were correlated with undergraduate grade point ratio (GPR) as a measure of academic success. The sample consisted of 657 candidates in an initial course in teacher education. Data collection included the following: high school GPR; SAT scores; other pre-enrollment information such as parents' occupations and educational levels; and scores on McCarthy's Learning Type Measure (LTM) which reports four learning preferences or types. Multiple regression analysis revealed five significant variables that predicted first-year spring GPR in descending order: 1) SAT-V score; 2) SAT-M score; 3) high school GPR; 4) level of father's education; and 5) thinking/reflecting score on the LTM. Researchers discuss implications for teacher candidates' academic success.Universities must necessarily take care to graduate well-prepared teachers, but two recent demographic trends have raised new areas of concern about the retention of candidates in teacher education programs. First, reports throughout the 1990s documented current teacher shortages and projected dramatic increases in the demand for teachers (