Portfolio Assessments, Good Teaching, and Teacher Identity: Studying Preservice Teacher Interaction With High-Stakes Portfolio Assessment

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Designing and Using Assessment Tools for Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

This case study examined the interactions of a cohort of pre-service teachers at a research university in the Midwest with a state-mandated high-stakes portfolio assessment—referred to generically as the Pre-Service Teacher Portfolio Assessment (PTPA). The study utilized in-depth interviewing and content analysis to gather data, which was interpreted using constant comparison and open-coding. The study found that participants viewed the PTPA as irrelevant or tangentially related to becoming good teachers. The PTPA did have some impact upon conceptions of good teaching, helping participants broaden their understandings to include not just dispositional factors, but also elements of technical practice. Lastly, participant attitude toward the PTPA produced a series of identity tensions.

Author

• Connor Warner, University of Missouri - Kansas City