Preparing Teachers for Assessment: Evidence From Three International Large-Scale Assessment Programs

• In Event: Reconsidering Teacher Assessment Literacy: Evolving Trends and Practices in Education

Abstract

Given the compelling evidence that assessment represents a key leverage point for the improvement of student outcomes (De Simone, 2020; Klinger & Rogers, 2011) preparing assessment literate teachers and support their professional development represents one of the most pressing and contested contemporary educational policy and practice issues. Teacher assessment literacy (DeLuca et al., 2019; Stiggins, 2017), generally defined as a set of knowledge and skills a teacher needs to effectively enact assessment in the classroom, has been a priority in the educational policy and educational research agenda for decades.
The efforts made by policymakers, teacher educators, and administrators clearly show that the intersection of teacher education and assessment practice matters in fostering the quality of instruction in national school systems.

On the backdrop of comparative educational research on teacher professional development and teacher assessment literacy, the following questions frame the present study:
• Which variations, across grades and countries, can be identified in (i) teachers’ training on assessment; (ii) assessment strategies; and (iii) assessment practices?
• Are today’s teachers more frequently trained on student assessment?
• Do they use a wider spectrum of assessment practices than teachers in the past?

The paper provides an extensive cross-national comparison, in the European context, on the evolution of these aspects over about 10 years.

To this end, the study uses data from three TALIS waves from 2008 to 2018, as well as three PIRLS and TIMSS teacher questionnaire data spanning from 2006 to 2019 (Tab. 1).
The three surveys (i.e., TALIS, TIMSS, and PIRLS) allow comparing three main indicators related to teacher training, conception and practice of student assessment, which were collected with very similar and hence comparable questions (Tab. 2). More specifically:
1. The indicator on training comes from a question asking to what extent teachers study assessment methods as part of their formal education and/or training;
2. The indicator on assessment strategies measures how much importance do teachers place on the different sources to monitor students such as short regular written test or assessment of ongoing work;
3. The indicator on practices measures how often teachers use different methods of assessing students’ learning.

Given the limited availability of comparative information on teacher training and practices in assessment, this study offers an ideal opportunity to investigate how research education and accountability demands interact and the consequences of that interaction for school systems, teacher education, and, ultimately, teacher practices.
Through this cross-national and trend analysis, this study intends to contribute to the understanding of current global dynamics that affect teacher assessment practices and identify future policy directions and research agenda on teacher education and educational assessment.
Based on the comparative research on teacher training and practices in the educational assessment domain, this study findings represent a useful step forward in mapping out the adjustments, in theory and practice, necessary to support teacher assessment literacy.

Authors

• Davide Azzolini, Bruno Kessler Foundation

• Serafina Pastore, University of Bari

• Sonia Marzadro, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies