Examining K-12 students' perceptions of student teacher effectiveness

Student ratings are a valid source of data for measuring teacher effectiveness. Students observe teachers more hours than administrators and are rather perceptive at measuring teachers' instructional proficiency. Listening to students' voices may offer key information about how teachers may best help students navigate their learning experiences in the classroom. Unfortunately, very few school districts invite feedback from students to glean insight into improving classroom learning. The purpose of the study was to examine elementary and secondary student perceptions of student teachers in a southeastern university who were assigned to teach in a number of schools in Kentucky. Students evaluated their student teachers through a survey on their level of support, transparency, understanding, discipline, engagement, nurturing, and trust. The results highlight some differences of students' perceptions at grade levels, between genders and language learners, and among content areas and parent education levels. Implications of the results are discussed.