This mixed methods study investigated the problem teacher education programs face of identifying and recruiting highly qualified and effective cooperating teachers to train student teachers. The study examined the criteria by which cooperating teachers were selected. Effectiveness ratings of elementary school teachers (N = 158) who were selected as cooperating teachers were compared to teachers who were not appointed. Effectiveness ratings were based on district managers' evaluations of two years of student achievement data, including state tests of language arts and mathematics and district performance assessments. Results showed that there was no significant difference in effectiveness ratings between teachers who had and had not been appointed as cooperating teachers during the year the study was conducted. The findings showed a selection trend that favored teachers with average achievement records over teachers with above average ratings, leading to the conclusion that the potential impact of the most effective teachers on novice teachers is underutilized.

Interviews were conducted with district personnel and university administrators to determine their perceptions of the ideal criteria by which cooperating teachers should be selected. With respect to teachers' dispositions, school personnel favored teachers who are good managers, have positive attitudes, are cooperative, and consistently demonstrate teaching strategies that reflect district curricular initiatives which are aligned with a technical view of teaching. University personnel favored teachers whose beliefs about teaching and learning align with the progressive philosophies of the teacher education professors. Cooperating teacher appointments were largely based on subjective judgments, not quantified criteria.

A Teachers' Survey, developed for this study, explored the perspectives of teachers about working with student teachers. Survey results were analyzed using bivariate correlation statistics and Stepwise Logistic Regression. The great majority of teachers indicated that they would like to be selected as a cooperating teacher, but had virtually no understanding of the selection process or how they might access it. The study exposes a gap in the research: the degree to which the theory of assessing teacher quality based on product variables is operational in the appointment of cooperating teachers.