Examining Preservice Teachers' Ability to Assess Student Learning

• In Event: 16.059 - Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: 16.059-1 - Division K Section 3 Poster Session 3

Abstract

Assessing student understanding is a key component of responsive instruction. In the context of teacher education, engaging preservice teachers in the analysis of written work could enhance teachers’ attentiveness to student understanding and enable them to monitor student progress in more nuanced ways (Kazemi & Franke, 2004). In this study we examined how preservice teachers assessed student understanding in their analysis of written student artifacts. Our findings suggest that teachers shifted from evaluating a single artifact in simple and uni-dimensional ways to sophisticated interpretations of student thinking based on artifacts evaluated along multiple dimensions. In addition, we observed that PTs began to use their interpretations of student understanding to guide their next instructional strategies in the classroom.

Authors

• Vicky Pilitsis, Rutgers University

• Ravit Golan Duncan, Rutgers University