Toward Equity: Facilitating Asset-Based Thinking Through Teacher Performance Assessments

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Equity, Coherence, and Assessment: Enhancing Teacher Preparation Through Collaborative Insights (Table 7)

Abstract

Teacher performance assessments are under constant critique. Currently, equity and social justice lenses are needed to evaluate these tools in teacher preparation. This paper reviewed the ten-year history of one such teacher performance assessment, the NHTCAP. Though evidence of learning was abundant, clear were the limitations of candidates-turned-first-year teachers’ understanding of students’ complexities and their context beyond the academic classroom. These findings surface the limitation of the assessment tool and provide a rationale for using performance assessments not just for evaluation, but to develop teachers' equitable lens as an essential component of their knowledge and skills. These changes are needed to support the development of future teachers’ knowledge of learners’ contexts in ways that prioritize centering strong equity.

Authors

• Diana L Sherman, Saint Anselm College

• Audrey Rogers, Southern New Hampshire University

• Dianna L. Gahlsdorf-Terrell, Saint Anselm College

• Kathryn McCurdy, University of New Hampshire

• Emilie Mitescu Reagan, Claremont Graduate University