Using Mississippi Freedom Schools as a Lens for a Graduate Education Course on Assessment

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Assessing for Change: Critical Insights for Teacher Educators

Abstract

Although scholarship on how Mississippi Freedom Schools can inform contemporary educational spaces in terms of curriculum and pedagogy is plentiful, research that adds to our understanding of assessment in this same context appears less developed. The current study explores this gap by describing the effort and impact of infusing a graduate-level teacher education course with Freedom School material in order to shape the graduate students’ understanding of how to balance the data-driven environment of today’s schools with the need to offer more authentic forms of assessment. The purpose is to show how Mississippi Freedom Schools can help teachers better understand assessment from a more critical, and culturally relevant perspective.

Author

• Jim L. Hollar, Edgewood College