Teacher Candidates' Perceptions About Grading and Constructivist Teaching

The Survey of Assessment Beliefs (SAB) was developed to measure teacher candidates' perceptions about grading practices. After piloting, the SAB was administered to 222 teacher candidates at a large northeastern urban university, along with a measure of their beliefs about teaching. Candidates were found to support many grading practices not recommended by professional standards. Support for grading practices that deviate from professional recommendations was positively associated with support for constructivist approaches. Significant differences were found in grading and teaching attitudes between elementary and secondary education teacher candidates. Teacher candidates became more moderate in endorsing nonstandard grading practices following coursework in classroom assessment but on average maintained a tendency to approve academically enabling grading practices. This study provides empirical evidence about possible areas of tension between constructivist learning theory and principles of educational measurement, and it helps classroom assessment teachers understand the needs of their target audiences.     

Using Activity Theory to Examine How Teachers' Lesson Plans Meet Students' Learning Needs

How is lesson planning useful? This research study used Cultural Historical Activity Theory and intersubjectivity to answer this questions. This research explored to what extent teacher candidates' lesson plans (i.e., alignment among objectives, assessment, and instruction), and analyses of assessment data mediate their thinking about students' learning needs. Four to five daily lesson plans with corresponding videos and commentaries from 10 elementary school (K–6) teacher candidates were used in this study. Qualitative analyses revealed that teacher candidates seldom considered their students' learning needs and seldom anticipated how instructional activities facilitated students' thinking. One teacher candidate, however, used assessment data to consider students' learning needs and to plan future lessons to meet students' learning needs. The implication of research findings suggest that teacher education programs must improve in developing teacher candidates' skills of aligning lesson plan features and using assessment data as tools to mediate their thinking about students' learning needs.     

Undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs about subject matter and pedagogy measured periodically in a reform‐based mathematics and science teacher preparation program

This study describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. The instrument, Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science, was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a statewide, standards‐based project in the National Science Foundation's Collaborative in Excellence in Teaching Preparation (CETP) Program. We report on two applications of the instrument: (a) a contrast between MCTP teacher candidates' and non‐MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science as they initially encountered reform‐based instruction in their undergraduate courses, and (b) a landscaping of how the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics and science evolved over a 2.5‐year period. In support of current reform in science and mathematics teacher education, we determined that over an extended period the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs moved substantively and significantly in the direction intended. However, we also found that the non‐MCTP teacher candidates in the same reform‐based courses did not mirror this improvement in their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science or the teaching of those subjects. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 713–737, 2002     

Preparing preschool teacher candidates for inclusion: impact of two special education courses on their perspectives

Successful implementation of inclusive practices depends mainly on teachers' attitudes towards children with special needs and their inclusion, and teachers' willingness to work with children with special needs in their classrooms. Experiences teacher candidates have during pre‐service stage might influence their perceptions towards children with disabilities and their inclusion. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of two special education courses on (1) preschool teacher candidates' general attitudes towards inclusion, (2) their willingness to work with children with significant intellectual, physical and behavioural disabilities within inclusive classroom settings and (3) their level of comfort in interacting with children with disabilities. A four‐part survey was administered to participants four times throughout the study, once before and after each course. The survey package included (1) a demographic information form, (2) the Opinions Relative to the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities Scale, (3) an adapted version of the Teachers' Willingness to Work with Children with Severe Disabilities Scale and (4) the Interaction with Children with a Disability Scale. The results showed that both special education courses positively influenced teacher candidates' attitudes, willingness and comfort levels. However, impact of the second course focused on helping teacher candidates learn and apply instructional strategies to work with children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms was much larger. Implications of the study findings in relation to future research and practice are discussed.     

The practice of whiteness among teacher candidates

This article discusses the findings of a study on 35, mostly white teacher candidates at a Canadian university. White racial identity and beliefs about causes of educational inequality are explored in relation to the teacher candidates'; value systems. Inconsistencies are found to be integral to the teacher candidates' positions. Contextualized within the practice of whiteness, the findings raise questions about the interrelationship of inconsistent beliefs, social distance, and how whiteness is effected. The author suggests that contradictory positions are a manifestation of a whiteness striving to sustain its legitimacy against an unstable social network. The denial and resistance so commonly found among white teacher candidates are performative in this sense.     

The effect of sharing health information on teachers' production of classroom accommodations

Ninety elementary‐school teachers read information about a hypothetical student experiencing school‐related problems due to Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), generated classroom accommodations to assist the student, and rated their confidence in these accommodations. Each teacher was provided one of three levels of information about T1DM: (a) no disease information, (b) basic disease information, and (c) basic disease information + classroom implications. Providing teachers with more information about T1DM increased their ability to accommodate a student's learning needs. Similarly, a lower proportion of disease‐specific accommodations were generated by teachers receiving no disease information (37%) than by teachers receiving basic disease information or basic disease information + classroom implications, and the later two groups were equivalent (47% for each). This study and future work concerning the effect of chronic illness on classroom performance and adjustment have implications for medical professionals, teachers, and school psychologists. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 553–564, 2006.     

Teacher candidates' growth in designing mathematical tasks as exhibited in their lesson planning

Abstract

In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K‐8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research on pedagogical content knowledge served as the theoretical framework for this study. The teacher candidates submitted lesson plans at three intervals during a semester‐long methods course; the lesson plans were then coded based on candidates' planned uses of academic tasks. Analyses of the data revealed trends in these teacher candidates' design of academic tasks over the course of the semester. Recommendations and implications are pre‐sented highlighting the benefits of incorporating the knowledge base on academic task into a mathematics methods course as a means to con‐tribute to teacher candidates' developing pedagogical content knowledge via their designing of academic tasks in lesson planning.     

Finding out more about teacher candidates' prior knowledge: implications for teacher educators

While it is recognised that prior knowledge is a key factor in determining future learning, its influence on learning to teach is less well known. This study investigates two cohorts of teacher candidates studying for a one-year, graduate qualification for primary teaching, who completed two tasks at entry to their initial teacher education programme: a task in writing and a task in mathematics. The tasks focused on teacher candidates' ability to recognise the key features of a piece of student work. The teacher candidates' responses to the tasks highlighted the diverse nature of the prior knowledge that underpinned their responses. The study raises questions about the pedagogy of initial teacher education, particularly in relation to the assumptions teachers educators make about the candidates they teach. The findings suggest that the prior knowledge that students bring to initial teacher education is both a resource and a challenge for teacher educators.     

Early Childhood Teachers' Curriculum Beliefs: Are They Consistent With Observed Classroom Practices?

Research Findings: This study examined the consistency between early childhood teachers' self-reported curriculum beliefs and observations of their actual interactive behaviors with children in classrooms. Also tested was the hypothesized moderation by teacher and classroom characteristics of the association between beliefs and practices. A total of 58 preschool teachers completed a survey describing their professional backgrounds and curriculum beliefs. Their classroom practices were observed using a newly developed instrument that documented teacher interactions with children. Most teachers in this sample strongly endorsed child-initiated learning beliefs, although their beliefs about teacher-directed learning varied considerably. The most frequently observed teacher behaviors in the classroom were giving directions to children, responding to children's initiations, and engaging in non-interactive classroom management activities. Overall, teachers' curriculum beliefs and observed classroom practices were weakly correlated. However, there were moderation effects. Stronger congruence between teacher-directed learning beliefs and observed teaching behaviors was found among teachers who had more professional training and more years of teaching experience. Practice or Policy: These results support the importance of early childhood teacher professional development. They suggest that teacher preparation and professional development programs should focus on the intellectual transformation between teacher knowledge and teacher practice, promoting both aspects of development.     

Purposeful Tensions: Lessons Learned from Metaphors in Teacher Candidates' Digital Stories

This collective case study examines how two teacher candidates' digital story projects created in literacy methods courses made visible their negotiated and evolving visions of teaching and learning. The digital stories were created to show and describe their future literacy classrooms. Using metaphoric analysis, the researchers uncovered the implicit metaphors of teachers and students present in each of the teacher candidates' digital stories. Looking across these metaphors, tensions and alignments between how the teacher candidates envisioned the role of teacher and the role of student and how these relate to prominent models of education including Industrial and Inquiry models are apparent. Implications for practice include modifications made to literacy methods courses to support teacher candidates to begin the negotiation of their professional identities as they explore multiple experiences of teaching and learning. These modifications include: (a) prompting teacher candidates to see themselves as readers, writers, and inquirers; (b) modeling and experiencing inquiry in teacher education coursework; and (c) providing opportunities for teacher candidates to experience purposeful tensions within their teacher education classes.     

Teaching about ethics through socioscientific issues in physics and chemistry: Teacher candidates' beliefs

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and explain the origins of physics and chemistry teacher candidates' beliefs about teaching about ethics through socioscientific issues (SSI). This study utilized a series of in‐depth interviews, while the participants (n = 12) were enrolled in a 9‐month teacher education program at an urban university in Canada. Our data analysis revealed that beliefs about teaching physics and chemistry using SSI derive from a complex web of fundamental beliefs exemplified by four archetypes representing the subject‐specific identities of our teacher candidates—Model Scientist/Engineer, Model Individual, Model Teacher, and Model Citizen. Furthermore, we found that the justification for belief change required by a particular teacher candidate depends on these subject‐discipline identities. Thus, the presence of each archetype in preservice classrooms has ramifications for the way a teacher educator should encourage his or her students to include SSI in their teaching. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 380–401, 2010     

Mathematical myths: Teacher candidates' beliefs and the implications for teacher educators

Abstract

For more than 2 decades, professional, state, and federal agencies have adopted educational standards aimed at improving mathematics instruction. One way of measuring the success of these adopted standards is to examine their impact on the mathematics attitudes and beliefs of students who received their education during this reform period. How teachers approach and implement these mathematics standards is heavily influenced by what they believe about mathematics content and pedagogy. For those who seek to improve mathematics education, examining beliefs regarding mathematics and the factors that influence those beliefs is imperative. In this paper we explore the persistence of teacher candidates' beliefs in myths despite changing educational standards. The beliefs of 76 current elementary teacher candidates were compared to beliefs of 131 elementary teacher candidates from 1990. The results confirm the pervasiveness and persistence of math myths among female elementary teacher candidates.     

Initial teacher education and trauma and violence informed care in the classroom: Preliminary results from an online teacher education course

A trauma-and-violence-informed-care (TVIC) system within an educational setting provides a framework of practice that enables schools to become safe and inclusive places for some of the most vulnerable students. Initial teacher education may provide the opportunity to prepare teachers to create classrooms and learning experiences that are safe, equitable, and meet students' needs. A mandatory mental health literacy course for second year teacher candidates in a Bachelor of Education program (n = 287) at a large Canadian university introduced TVIC concepts. A case study approach was used to illustrate both the challenges that students exposed to trauma and/or violence can experience, as well as strategies and knowledge that teachers can use to support these students. This program evaluation used a repeated measures design to survey both attitudes toward trauma informed care for teachers and self-efficacy for teaching using inclusive practices before and after the course. A significant effect of time on both measures revealed an increase in both participants' attitudes toward TVIC and their self-efficacy in using inclusive teaching practices. These findings provide support for the inclusion of these important topics for all teacher candidates. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.     

Integrating Differentiation in English Education Methods Courses: Learning from the Perceptions and Experiences of Teacher Candidates

The practice of inclusion as a response to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act means that English teachers teach students who demonstrate a wide range of abilities in the same classroom. This qualitative study explored the developing attitudes toward differentiation of English education teacher candidates participating in a methods course cotaught by an English education professor and a special education professor. Findings revealed that their pedagogical beliefs were influenced by having knowledge of individual students, proactively engaging with professional concepts, and attending to students' affective needs in academic contexts. The teacher candidates in this study were able to discuss differentiation, but they struggled to implement it in practice; therefore, we argue that instruction on differentiation must be explicitly integrated into English methods courses. Using cognitive flexibility theory, we suggest ways teacher educators can help future teachers develop advanced knowledge of differentiation to meet the needs of their future students.     

Building strong reading muscles: ableist language in a teacher’s talk about reading

ABSTRACT

Elementary school teachers are expected to teach reading ‘inclusively’ to children with diverse learning needs. Yet, teachers face challenges in enacting inclusive practices that socially support children while academically engaging and challenging them. The purpose of this study was to examine the opportunities for engagement with reading produced through a teacher’s talk in one ‘inclusive’ fourth grade classroom’. The setting for the study was a pre-K-5 public school located in a high-poverty neighbourhood of a northeast city of the United States. This study combined ethnographic methods and D/discourse analysis to explore classroom talk about reading through a sociocultural lens. Findings indicated that the teacher’s talk, which was largely shaped by dominant cultural Discourses circulating through policy, curriculum and the school environment, sometimes promoted an ableist ideology through its focus on each individual’s independent development of ‘strength’ as a reader. Moments when ableist language about reading dominated during the Reading Workshop seemed to limit the possibilities for students’ participation in reading and ideas of what counted as successful reading. The findings suggest the need to engage K-12 students, teachers, and teacher candidates in critical conversations about issues related to reading and learning such as strength, struggle, purposes for reading, and assessment.     

A person-centered analysis of teacher candidates’ approaches to assessment

This study analyzed teacher candidates’ approaches to classroom assessment, self-perception of assessment competence, motivation for completing teacher education, and assessment education experiences at the end of their teacher education program. Through latent class analysis, three subgroups of teachers were identified: eager, contemporary, and hesitant assessors. Membership to each class was further characterized by perceived relevance of classroom assessment, motivation for pursuing teacher education, methods of assessment education, and teacher certification. Results from this study support the notion that teacher candidates’ approaches to assessment should not be viewed as a stable characteristic, but one shaped by learning experiences, context, and personal dispositions.     

Examining Effectiveness and Validity of Accommodations for English Language Learners in Mathematics: An Evidence-Based Computer Accommodation Decision System

Research indicates that the performance-gap between English Language Learners (ELLs) and their non-ELL peers is partly due to ELLs' difficulty in understanding assessment language. Accommodations have been shown to narrow this performance-gap, but many accommodations studies have not used a randomized design and are based on relatively small sample sizes. Addressing such issues, we administered a standard-based mathematics assessment to approximately 3,000 Grade 9 ELL and non-ELL students under five different language-based accommodations. Results indicate that many of these accommodations did not produce significant gains for the recipients. Some even had a negative impact. We believe several factors may explain these findings. First, newer assessments, including those developed for this study, may have been linguistically modified to the point that further modification has only a limited effect. Second, the language of instruction may have not adequately prepared students for the assessment. If the language of instruction (textbook, etc.) contains unnecessary linguistic complexity, then students may not have had the opportunity to learn the assessed content. A third factor is students’ unfamiliarity with these accommodations because they are seldom used in classroom instruction and teacher assessments. We discuss our findings and implications for policymakers, assessment developers, practitioners, and researchers.     

“Relocating the Personal” to engender critically reflective practice in pre-service literacy teachers

This case study mapped candidates' responses to a pre-service literacy course designed to relocate teacher candidates' literacy histories and beliefs from a personal to political frame with the intent of promoting critical reflection and complex understandings of literacy, teaching, and learning. As part of a broader qualitative case study including 71 participants over 8 months, this paper focuses on data gathered from 7 candidates. Through a modified constant comparative method, the analysis confirmed the effectiveness of certain conditions created in the course while pointing to a need for further attention to issues of power and the unconscious in learning to teach literacy.