Investigation of Preservice Teachers' Classroom Assessment Practices During Student Teaching

Abstract

Teachers' evaluation of pupil learning should be consistent with identified learning outcomes at the intended level of performance. To the extent that curriculum and assessment are aligned, the validity of inferences about pupil knowledge is strengthened. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the assessment practices of preservice teachers who have successfully completed coursework in educational measurement. Three hundred and nine lesson plans from 65 preservice (student) teachers were reviewed. The authors found that, during student teaching, preservice teachers do not follow many of the assessment practices recommended in their coursework. Perhaps implementations of recommended classroom assessment practices seem to depend on more than possessing the requisite knowledge.     

Teacher pupil control ideology and pupils' projected feelings toward teachers

The relationship between teacher pupil control ideology and pupils' projected feelings toward teachers was examined. The Pupil Control Ideology Form, based on a custodial-humanistic continuum, served as the operational definition for teacher views toward pupil control. Lemeshnik's Draw-A-Teacher technique, a projective device based on a negative-positive continuum, served as the operational definition of pupils' projected feelings toward teachers. A sample of 131 teachers and their students responded to these instruments, respectively. Pearson product-moment correlations indicated that custodialism in teacher pupil control ideology was directly related to pupils' negative feelings toward teachers. Multiple regression analysis indicated that pupil control ideology, followed by teacher sex and grade level, predicted pupils' feelings toward teachers. Further analysis revealed that boys projected more negative feelings toward teachers than did girls.     

Student control ideology and the science classroom environment in urban secondary schools of sudan

An examination was made concerning the relationships between Sudanese secondary science teachers' pupil control ideology and their students' perceptions/observations of the psychosocial environment of their science classrooms. One hundred secondary science teachers were classified as possessing humanistic (N = 20) or custodial (N = 20) control ideologies. A class (N = 40) of students was randomly selected for every teacher in both groups. The findings revealed that no significant relationships existed between the control ideologies of the teachers and their students' perceptions/observations of the classroom environment. Custodialism in control ideology was significantly related to the classroom environment psychosocial aspect of low “support.” Discussion and implications of the findings have been approached from both Sudanese and American perspectives.     

Teacher management behaviors and pupil task involvement during small group laboratory activities

A major concern of many beginning and experienced teachers is that of classroom management and control. This article describes recent research into defining classroom management procedures that are used by high school science teachers and their relationship to pupil ontaskness. The classroom is conceptualized as a manipulable behavioral system. This construct arises directly from Barker's (1968) ecological psychology, the classroom and its occupants being conceptualized as a behavior setting. The behaviors of the teacher and the pupils are an integral part of the unit (behavior setting), which in turn coerces certain behaviors from its participants. Thus settings, and, in particular, subsettings, are seen as more important determiners of social behavior than the personality of individual teacher or pupil. The methodology employed in this research has involved the extensive use of video in naturalistic science classrooms. Tapes of both teacher and pupil behaviors were continuously and independently recorded. Intensive analysis using electronic recording instruments interfaced with the computer has allowed the collection and sophisticated analysis of the observational data. Data relating to teacher management behavior in small group settings have been analyzed and the relationships to pupil task involvement have been explored.     

Teachers’ views about pupil diversity in the primary school classroom

The present study explores Greek primary school teachers’ perceptions and views on pupil diversity in the classroom environment. A large-scale survey was carried out in order to examine teachers’ perceptions about pupil diversity and to identify personal and/or educational characteristics that can influence or predict these perceptions. The outcomes of the study reveal that Greek primary school teachers view diversity as a challenge more than as a barrier in teaching and learning, they can recognise at a high level the key elements of differentiated instruction as part of managing pupil diversity in their class and hold a negative-to-neutral stance on traditional curriculum implementation practices. The most influential factors and predictors of these perceptions and views are also presented and discussed.     

The Reproduction of Social Stratification in Zimbabwe: A study of the attitudes and practices of A-level biology teachers in Harare

This study looks at the classroom practices and attitudes of a sample of A-level biology teachers in Harare, Zimbabwe. The analysis of the data shows that the teachers in what are termed 'richer' school contexts, as measured by teachers' self reports, have attitudes to the philosophy of science that are more relativist and more deductivist, but less process orientated and less de-contextualist, than their colleagues in 'poorer' school contexts. Teachers from the two school contexts organised their biology practical lessons with different grouping strategies. In theory lessons, the teachers in the two school contexts spent different amounts of time on pupils' activities. The analysis points to how different classroom practices might be associated with the reproduction of social stratification.     

Teachers' behaviour and practices in the classroom

The theory behind this study yielded the predictions that successful teacher–pupil interaction in the classroom is essential to the educational and social development of pupils and that teachers' understanding of their own behaviour is therefore of paramount importance. The study examined the behaviour and practices of 20 teachers, 10 in small schools and 10 in large schools. The teachers were grouped into three categories: empathetic teachers, non-empathetic teachers and uncommitted teachers. This study contributes several significant findings to the literature on teacher–pupil interaction in the classroom, most importantly that personal characteristics appear to be a good predictor of teacher competence and that there appear to be relationships between particular personal characteristics on the one hand and teachers' classroom practices on the other. These results seemed to be unrelated to class size and schools type.     

The implementation of equitable teaching strategies by high school biology student teachers

Teachers can perpetuate stereotypic cultural beliefs regarding girls' ability in, aptitude for, and suitability for science by their teaching practices and behaviors. As teachers have a major influence on girls' career choices their equitable teaching practices in the classroom are important to encourage all students, but especially girls, to continue with science. Researchers have studied science classrooms and have defined common strategies and practices that can help create an equitable classroom environment. The purpose of this study was to determine if high school biology student teachers could transfer learned equitable teaching strategies to actual teaching and the support conditions necessary for that transfer. Two support conditions were assessed: cooperating teacher and peer group support. Seven preservice teachers were placed into three groups. One group had both support conditions, the second group had only one condition (peer support), and the third group did not have either support condition. Both qualitative and quantitative data sources were collected. Results showed that preservice teachers could transfer learned equitable teaching into actual teaching practice. However, they were more successful in achieving the transfer if they were supervised by cooperating teachers who are sensitized to the issue of gender equity in education. Being involved in a peer support group was not as crucial to using the strategies as having a supportive cooperative teacher.     

Teacher Identity in an Era of Educational Reform: The case of Trinidad and Tobago

The pace of educational reform has been increasing significantly at the global level and teachers have significant roles to play in such reform movements. This paper compares the beginning teacher identity of primary teacher trainees in Trinidad and Tobago with the concept of the teacher that seems to underpin present reform initiatives. Beginning teacher identity, explored through the use of a questionnaire and interviews, is portrayed as images and metaphors. It seems to encapsulate the missionary ideology of teaching and the notion of child-centred pedagogy, with the classroom as the centre of interaction between pupil and teacher. The reforms, on the other hand, look to teachers to support, as well, the decentralisation effort that calls for collaboration with the community, and the promotion of continuous assessment practices that calls for collaboration across grade levels in the school. Both the community focus and the school focus are likely to pose problems for beginning teachers who maintain a classroom focus. The paper highlights the need for reform efforts to take into account the gaps between existing teacher identity images and those envisioned for the reformed system.     

Oral History and Teachers’ Professional Practice: a wartime turning point?

This exploratory article has a two‐fold aim. In the first place, it seeks to investigate changing patterns of teacher‐pupil relationships in the twentieth century through the lens of the professional lives and pedagogical practices of classroom teachers themselves. Such an investigation is engaged through the application of oral history methods. An unexpected result of a succession of oral history interviews has been the identification, by former teachers themselves, of wartime evacuation as a significant turning point in the development of teacher‐pupil relationships. The second aim of the article is to relate the findings of oral history interviews to those which emerge from documentary and secondary sources. In this way, the particular strengths of oral history methods for the investigation of past pedagogical practice are assessed.     

Understanding science teaching effectiveness: examining how science-specific and generic instructional practices relate to student achievement in secondary science classrooms

ABSTRACT

In order to create conditions for students’ meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students’ scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers’ instructional practices relate to student achievement can provide teachers with beneficial information about how to best engage their students in meaningful science learning. To address this need, this study examined the instructional practices that 99 secondary biology teachers used in their classrooms and employed regression to determine which instructional practices are predictive of students’ science achievement. Results revealed that the secondary science teachers who had well-managed classroom environments and who provided opportunities for their students to engage in student-directed investigation-related experiences were more likely to have increased student outcomes, as determined by teachers’ value-added measures. These findings suggest that attending to both generic and subject-specific aspects of science teachers’ instructional practice is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that result in more effective science instruction in secondary classrooms. Implications about the use of these observational measures within teacher evaluation systems are discussed.     

Quality of teacher worklife and classroom practices in Botswana

Grounded in affect theory (Eckblad, 1981), this study investigated (1) the extent that Botswana junior secondary teachers' quality of worklife was related to their willingness to undertake innovative educational practices and (2) the extent that those teachers who differed in their perceived quality of worklife also differed in their classroom pedagogical practices. Results indicated that classroom practices differed significantly (for reasons other than subject area) among teachers who held different perceptions about the quality of their worklife. However, findings also suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing quality of worklife based on the premise that more satisfied teachers may be more receptive to change may be ill-conceived.     

Imagining a different life in school: educating student teachers about ‘looked after’ children and young people

The research described in this paper concerns the acquaintance of student teachers with the educational and wider pastoral experiences of children and young people who are or have been ‘looked after’ and who they may well teach at some point, together with the familiarisation of student teachers with the ‘looked after’ system in the UK. We discuss an exploratory awareness‐raising curriculum project within a Teacher Education Department at a University in the UK that utilises digital multimedia to develop a ‘community of awareness’ of young people and student teachers. As a result of this work, the student teachers were able to reflect on their pedagogical knowledge and practices related to teaching and wider pupil pastoral care. Further, those involved in the project therefore not only learned how to use technology, but to apply it in meaningful, productive ways, which were potentially transforming in terms of appreciation and knowledge of diversity. Benefits for the participants – the young people involved and the student teachers, as well as implications for both student teachers’ understanding of diversity and limitations of the technology – are discussed.     

Effects of Leader and Teacher Behaviour on Implementation of Cooperative Learning in the Elementary School

Structural equation modelling was used in this study to examine interrelationships among change management functions, teacher orientations and implementation of cooperative learning which were assessed in terms of four latent variables based on teacher self‐reports of knowledge, perceived benefits, amount of professional development and frequency of use. After preliminary modifications, the final structural model suggested four major influences on implementation. First, lower levels of pupil control ideology of the teacher lead to more self‐reported knowledge of cooperative learning methods. Pupil control ideology is a measure of how school personnel view their students with regard to control. The higher the pupil control ideology, the more controlled the classroom. Second, higher levels of shared vision and lower levels of pupil control ideology lead to stronger teacher perceptions of the benefits of using cooperative learning. Third, higher levels of principal and resource support —but lower levels of teacher participation in decision making—lead to more professional development experiences.     

Using Performance Feedback To Decrease Classroom Transition Time And Examine Collateral Effects On Academic Engagement

Performance feedback has been described as a necessary component of consultation. Although feedback has been used to improve academic performance of individual students, less research has examined the effects on classroom academic engagement when implementation of classroom management variables is the source of feedback. Using a multiple-baseline design, the effects of performance feedback with goal setting was examined across three high school biology teachers who were first provided with feedback on the number of seconds devoted to transitions and then successful implementation of classroom time management strategies. Feedback on the number of transition minutes alone led to decreases in transition time and corresponding increases in student academic engagement for all teachers. One teacher benefited from additional feedback on classroom time management strategies. For all teachers, low rates of transition time and high rates of academic engagement were maintained when the intervention was faded and after it was terminated.     

What can teachers do to raise pupil achievement?

Improving weak teaching may be one of the most effective means of raising pupil achievement. However, teachers’ classroom practices and the teaching ‘process’ may matter more to student learning than teachers’ observed résumé characteristics (such as certification and experience). There may also be important differences in teacher characteristics across government and private schools which may help explain the large documented public-private achievement differences often found in studies. This paper delves into the black-box representing ‘teaching’ to uncover the teacher characteristics and teaching practices that matter most to pupil achievement. This is done using unique school-based data, collected in 2002-2003 from government and private schools from one district in Punjab province in Pakistan. The data allow exploitation of an identification strategy that permits the matching of students’ test scores in language and mathematics to the characteristics of teachers that teach those subjects. Within pupil (across subject rather than across time) variation is used to examine whether the characteristics of different subject teachers are related to a students’ mark across subjects. The data are also unique in asking all subject teachers questions pertaining to their teaching practices and these, often unobserved, ‘process’ variables are included in achievement function estimates. Our pupil fixed-effects findings reveal that the standard résumé characteristics of teachers do not significantly matter to pupil achievement. Perversely, however, teachers are found to be rewarded with higher pay for possessing these characteristics, highlighting the highly inefficient nature of teacher pay schedules. Our findings also show that teaching ‘process’ variables matter significantly to student achievement. There are important differences across school-types.     

‘The teacher said I'm thick!’ Experiences of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder within a school setting

Children and young people who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can often experience difficulties within an education setting. ADHD can impact upon their educational achievements and subsequent future employment. This paper draws upon data gathered from a small scale study and has sought to elicit the ‘voice’ of young people who have ADHD and their experience within a school setting. Findings of this study indicate that there is a need for teachers to be more informed about the impact that ADHD can have on a pupil and teachers need to develop positive strategies to support these individuals within the classroom. Ideally, adequate training around ADHD should begin within initial teacher training prior to entering the teaching profession.     

Title: what about my voice? Autistic young girls’ experiences of mainstream school

Over the last few decades, developments have taken place at international, national and local levels that have encouraged more inclusive forms of educational provision. However, many practising teachers remain concerned that they lack the knowledge, skills and expertise necessary to support an increasingly diverse range of learners in their classrooms and particularly those identified with special needs and disabilities. One response to this has been a proliferation in the publication of texts specifically aimed at classroom teachers, offering practical advice to address these professional concerns. This paper reports on a two-phased study which examined the scope and variety of such texts and the nature of the guidance therein. Three key aspects were considered: the main contents and concerns of the texts, which learners are, and are not, the intended focus of their guidance, and how the process of developing inclusive practices is portrayed. Whilst the findings from this analysis raise important concerns about the limitations of such texts, they also highlight the challenges, more generally, of improving professional development opportunities for teachers who seek to be more inclusive in their everyday classroom practices.     

Effects of subject-area degree and classroom experience on new chemistry teachers’ subject matter knowledge

Science teachers need to understand the subject matter they teach. While subject matter knowledge (SMK) can improve with classroom teaching experience, it is problematic that many secondary science teachers leave the profession before garnering extensive classroom experience. Furthermore, many new science teachers are assigned to teach science subjects for which they do not hold a degree. This study investigates the SMK of new secondary science teachers assigned to teach chemistry in their first three years of teaching. These new teachers do not have the advantage of years of experience to develop their SMK and half hold a degree in biology rather than chemistry. This qualitative study explores the effects of holding a degree in the subject area one teaches as well as classroom teaching experience on teachers’ SMK for two chemistry topics, conservation of mass and chemical equilibrium. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews indicated that the SMK of teachers who had a chemistry degree and more extensive classroom experience was more coherent, chemistry-focused, and sophisticated than that of teachers who lacked this preparation and experience. This study provides evidence that new science teachers’ SMK is influenced by both holding a degree in the subject area and having classroom experience.