Abstract
In this quasi-experimental study, we examine the effects of three different student teaching conditions--instructional coaching, co-teaching, and co-teaching and instructional coaching--on an elementary teacher candidate's readiness to teach in comparison to a traditional model of student teaching. 244 teacher candidates were randomly assigned to one of four models during their year-long student teaching experience and candidates and their cooperating teachers received training. The results of this study indicate candidate characteristics (race, gender, and academic ability/SAT score) and the treatment conditions contribute to a regression model that predicts a statistically significant amount of the variance in candidate readiness (edTPA score) even though, individually, the treatment conditions were not statistically significant predictors. Findings suggest teacher candidates who have been prepared under the three treatment conditions are similarly ready to teach to those who have been prepared under a traditional student teaching model. This is important because it gives teacher preparation programs a variety of options to meet the needs of their teacher candidates and program.