Teacher preparation programs, in part due to national accreditation
mandates, are beginning to examine assessment and instruction
of teacher trainees’ professional behavior and dispositions more
carefully than in the past. The faculty at University of South Florida
St. Petersburg developed the Professional Behavior Assessment
tool (PBA) for rating levels of competence within six professional
behavior domains; punctuality, reaction to supervision,
collaboration with colleagues, effort, enthusiasm, and ethical
professionalism. Four pre-service teachers (PST) were taught the
characteristics of the six domains employing written scenarios and
rubrics of the PBA. Initially, the pre-service teachers held very
different perceptions than faculty regarding behavior expected
within each domain. After instruction the PST’s were able to use
the PBA to rate scenarios similarly to faculty. Following training,
PST’s reported better understanding regarding the level of
expected professional behavior in the schools. As the semester
progressed, faculty noted improvement in pre-service professional
behavior in field settings.
