Evaluation of the impact of participation in the T.E.S.T. examination preparation program on elementary education teacher candidate C-BASE and PRAXIS-II performance

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of participation in an examination preparation program for elementary education teacher candidates attempting teacher licensure. Measurements included scores on the ACT, C-BASE, and PRAXIS-II exams. Research methodology employing MANCOVA investigated the impact of three variables: (a) participation level in the T.E.S.T. (translate, eliminate, solve, avoid tricks) examination preparation program (b) teacher candidate qualification status and (c) ACT scores. Statistical analysis and MANCOVA revealed teacher candidate qualifiers for admittance to teacher education outscored non-qualifiers on the ACT, C-BASE and PRAXIS-II. PRAXIS-II scores for elementary teacher candidates at the institution studied improved from 1995-2007, but MANCOVA analyses determined participation in the T.E.S.T. examination preparation program, although statistically significant, had low practicality and effect size. Utilizing MANCOVA with ACT as covariate, analyses determined main effects for independent variables were statistically significant with good power. Effect size was small for main effects with low practicality. Strong correlations were found among ACT, C-BASE, and PRAXIS-II. There were no significant interaction effects. At the institution studied, elementary education teacher candidate T.E.S.T. program non-participants outscored participants on C-BASE and PRAXIS-II examinations when utilizing ACT scores as a covariate.