Section archive - Assessment & Evaluation

This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examines the impact of analytic rubric use in peer feedback on preservice teachers’ ability to recognize indicators of best practice for second language lesson planning and lesson delivery. 53 preservice teachers in a university-level, semester-long Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) practicum course received direct instruction on indicators presented in the analytic rubrics. They were then randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group used rubrics with the indicators during peer feedback tasks, while the control group used a modified rubric without the indicators. The result from an independent samples t-test on posttest mean scores indicated a significant difference between groups for both lesson planning and lesson delivery, favoring the experimental group. Qualitative data were also collected via written comments on the posttests and from focus-group interviews. From thematic analyses of qualitative data, three key themes emerged, including specific tensions that resulted from the type of feedback preservice teachers desired and the type of feedback they were willing to give to their peers. These findings provide further insight into the use of analytic rubrics in peer feedback practices in second language teacher education (SLTE).

This study examines ten preservice teachers’ use of Freiberg’s Person-Centered Learning Assessment (PCLA), a self-assessment measure. The PCLA serves as an individualized resource for educators to assess their classroom teaching and learning particularly in the affective domain. Study findings indicate that the 10 student teachers identified future pedagogical changes as a result of utilizing the PCLA, with eight student teachers specifically identifying changes in their classrooms prior to completion of the study. As explored in this study, self-assessments seem to provide novice educators with a unique form of feedback and have the potential to lead to deeper levels of pedagogical self-reflection and resulting changes.

The authors describe challenges that were confronted around the deployment of Louisiana’s value-added assessment of teacher preparation programs. Their discussion is organized around the challenges emerging from calculation, communication, and change. The discussion provides information that policy makers and teacher education leaders, rather than analysts, might find useful, and focuses on the types of challenges that a state or university system can expect to encounter in developing a value-added assessment. They describe decisions made in response to specific challenges that appear to have been successful and some that in retrospect appear to have been mistakes.

The present study describes an assessment technique, named Assessment360, which can be implemented during coursework to prepare future teachers to be reflective practitioners. The study explores students’ perceptions of Assessment360. The findings suggested that students indicated Assessment360 potentially encouraged reflection, collaboration, and feedback.