Abstract
This study was designed to explore high-quality teacher characteristics of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers. It is generally acknowledged that promoting teacher quality is a key element in improving secondary education in the United States. While recent research has documented the importance of quality teaching in promoting student achievement, there is a lack of consensus on the characteristics of good teachers because identification of good teaching practices are often dependent on student learning outcomes.
The purpose of the study was to explore and inventory the characteristics of Idaho’s high-quality CTE teachers (i.e. knowledge and skills, beliefs, and practice) without using student learning outcomes as a measure. The survey was distributed to 770 postsecondary teachers in the State of Idaho with a response rate of 44.8%. Significant results from the study indicated Idaho’s CTE teachers have strong self-efficacy, a growth mindset, and believe that having a mentor was related to their success as a teacher. The inventory of teacher characteristics formed the CTE-CTI Framework: Characteristics of a high-quality CTE teacher which depicted education and experience, professional development, beliefs, great teacher attitudes, and related practice components. This study is considered to be generalizable. With noted revisions, the CTE-CTI can be used to inventory the characteristics of high-quality CTE teachers.