Secondary teachers' and undergraduate education faculty members' perceptions of teaching-effectiveness criteria: A national survey

This essay presents findings from a national survey of secondary-school tea chers and undergraduate education faculty members regarding their perceptio ns of criteria related to gaining employment as a secondary-school teacher, effective teaching, and preparatory undergraduate coursework. A questionna ire was sent to a sample of 1076 secondary-school teachers and 538 undergra duate education faculty members asking them to rate criteria and courses. D ata collected from 350 secondary-school teachers and 201 undergraduate educ ation faculty members showed that communication-related skills (e.g., Inter personal Communication Skills, Oral Communication Skills), attributes (e.g. , Enthusiasm, Poise) and courses (e.g., Interpersonal Communication, Public Speaking) were rated among the most important criteria by both groups of r espondents in all three areas (employment in a teaching position, in-class effectiveness, and preparatory coursework). The role of teacher preparation in the current National Communication Association (NCA) agenda regarding c ommunication in the K-12 classroom is discussed.