Assessing Ambitious Pedagogy in a Time of Standardized Assessments: What Teacher Work Samples Reveal

• In Event: Tilting Toward Inquiry: Implications for Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development

Abstract

Purpose
The study reports on teachers using the inquiry process to study their own practice of using the inquiry process with students. The study reviewed four years of teacher studies and findings to draw conclusions about how teachers both conceptualized and put into practice assessment of student inquiry.

Theoretical Framework
This study implemented collaborative teacher inquiry (Bray, Lee, Smith & Yorks, 2000; Cochran-Smyth & Lytle, 2001, 2009) to promote ongoing, sustained, and deep learning in individual teacher practices focused on student learning (Hawley & Valli, 1999; Weinbaum, Allen, Blythe, Simon, Seidel, & Rubin, 2004). This ambitious pedagogy (Windshitl, Thompson, & Braaten, 2011) focused on student inquiry for its benefits of developing higher levels of learning and critical thinking skills (Minner, Levy, & Century, 2010; van Rens, van der Schee, & Pilot, 2009).

Method and Data Sources
Using a naturalistic data gathering method, documents generated as part of a professional development program were reviewed. Data came from 77 teachers from 6 secondary schools in a large northeastern metropolitan area over a four year time period. Reviewed documents included teacher inquiry proposals and final findings as well as twice-yearly survey questions. The data was reviewed first by comparing to student inquiry frameworks by McDonald & Songer (2008) and Bonnstetter (1998) and a teacher appropriation framework by Grossman, Smagorinsky, & Valencia (1999). Next documents for a subset of teachers (n=18) involved for two or more years were reviewed.

Results
The paper provides a tally of categories of appropriation and design for all participants over the four years. While a full range of categories is represented, most teachers, even in their first year, were able to design and implement student inquiry that had some element of student involvement. A minority was able to provide students an opportunity to direct their inquiries in some way. When combined with the data from multi-year participants four themes emerged: 1) “change in fits and starts” where teachers implemented some element(s) of the inquiry process then lost it the next year only to bring it back in combination with a new element; 2) “coming to believe” that inquiry works and students benefit so that teachers did more inquiry; 3) “directive flexibility” in which teachers who wanted a prescriptive approach to what the facilitators saw as creative; and 4) “thinking like an assessor” describing the challenge teachers experienced in properly assessing the ambitious pedagogy they were implementing.

Significance
The Common Core standards promote critical thinking skills and independent learning across all subject areas. This study examined teachers in various subjects using ambitious pedagogy to support such through student inquiry. Our findings reveal the successes and struggles of the teachers to provide suggestions for both teacher development and program development.

Authors

• James F. Kilbane, Cleveland State University

• Christine D. Clayton, Pace University

• Mary Rose McCarthy, Pace University