South Carolina Teacher Evaluation Domains: A Qualitative Exploratory Study to Illustrate Student Teacher Perceptions

South Carolina certified teachers face a rigorous evaluation process. Consequently, student teachers must develop the state-required skills in order to become future teachers. Currently, an external review concluded that the South Carolina teacher evaluation process has been considered too cumbersome for student teachers to grasp the details. Student teachers may not make connections between their practicum experience and South Carolina Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT) evaluation domains determined by the state to assess teacher readiness. The required domains are: planning, instruction, environment, and professionalism. Teachers passing ADEPT receive a continuing contract. The researcher used qualitative phenomenology to explore narrative analyses of participants' verbal and written responses regarding their perceptions of South Carolina's teacher evaluation. The purpose of this study was to explore student teacher perceptions in order to illustrate their understandings of the ADEPT domains. The participant sample consisted of four English Language Arts student teachers from local teaching colleges undergoing a practicum experience at a rural high school in South Carolina. Participant written reflections, field notes, and face-to-face interviews offered a full scope of student teacher perceptions through data triangulation. Findings showed that student teachers felt confident to face ADEPT domains after practicing them. Perhaps S.C. educational leaders should base student teaching on the same requirements as continuing contract teachers. The findings and recommendations will be disseminated among local teaching universities, current student teachers, and school officials including the S.C. Department of Education in order to better prepare future student teachers for the rigorous South Carolina teacher evaluation.