Professional Candidate Assessment

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Assessment Guide for English Language Learners.
A 94 page document from The National Council of La Raza,produced under a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/assessment_guide.pdf

Assessing Teacher Education: The usefulness of multiple measures for assessing program outcomes (2006)
This article describes a set of research and assessment strategies used to evaluate program outcomes in the Stanford Teacher Education Program during a period of program redesign over the past 5 years. These include perceptual data on what candidates feel they have learned in the program (through surveys and interviews) as well as independent measures of what they have learned (data from pretests and posttests, performance assessments, work samples, employers’ surveys, and observations of practice). The article discusses the possibilities and limits of different tools for evaluating teachers and teacher education and describes future plans for assessing beginning teachers’ performance in teacher education, their practices in the initial years of teaching, and their pupils’ learning.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Assessing teacher education: The usefulness of multiple measures for assessing program outcomes. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(2), 120138.

Assessing Teacher Candidate Growth over Time: Embedded Signature Assessments (2005)
In 1998, California state legislation called for significant reform in the preparation of teachers. As a result, institutions of higher learning must now conduct a formal performance-based assessment. All teacher candidates must participate in the assessment at the end of the program for receipt of the preliminary teaching credential. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) contracted with Educational Testing Service to develop a performance assessment that institutions could adopt in response to the requirement. The legislation also allowed institutions to develop alternative assessment designs, although they had to adhere to required standards and were subject to a formal review. However, there currently is a moratorium on performance assessments until state funding is secured to pay for the program. The Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) consortium emerged in fall 2001 with a decision by deans and directors of teacher-education programs in the University of California (UC) system to explore the creation of an alternative proposal. UC campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz), along with several other public universities (California State University at Sacramento, San Diego State University, San Jose State University) and private institutions (Stanford University, University of Southern California, and Mills College), produced a teacher performance portfolio with the distinctive feature discussed in this article—the embedded signature assessment (ESA).
Larsen, L.R., & Calfee, R.C. (2005). Assessing teacher candidate growth over time: Embedded signature assessments. The Clearing House, 78(4), 151-157.

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Classification of Children With Disabilities: Part I
This article synthesizes 6 papers that address broad questions relating to disability classification and categorization, cross-national comparisons on disability in education, the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and Amartya Sen’s capability approach. The focus of the article is the intentions, purposes, and future directions for disability classification in education. The authors argue that these advances offer researchers and policymakers the opportunity to examine the relational nature of disability classification in any recalibration of statutory standards or educational policy reforms. Such developments are necessary to move beyond discrete categorical classification systems traditionally used in education that (a) do not recognize the complexity of human differences, (b) unnecessarily stigmatize children, and (c) do not always benefit the individuals who are classified.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/Florian_2006.pdf

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Classification of Children With Disabilities: Part II
This article is the second in a 2-part synthesis of an international comparative seminar on the classification of children with disabilities. In this article, the authors discuss classification frameworks used in identifying children for the purpose of providing special education and related services. The authors summarize 7 papers that addressed aspects of disability classification in educational systems in the United States and the United Kingdom. They discuss current policies for determining which children receive special education services, the origins and evolution of these policies, and current dilemmas and challenges associated with classification schemes and the provision of special education. The authors also describe emerging data and possible models and practices that might be used in educational systems. They conclude with the recognition that both formal and informal educational classification systems will continue to be required within a system that must address the competing priorities of individual needs and the broader social and community goals of education. However, as was argued in the previous article, by understanding the mix of intentions that underpin these policies, as well as periodically reviewing the norms that underlie them, it may be possible to move classification to descriptors that can be used to efficiently and effectively define educational needs and distribute resources.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/McLaughlin_2006.pdf

Data-Driven Assessment of Teacher Candidates During their Internships in Deaf Education (2004)
In response to criticism deaf education teacher training programs have received for graduating students with gaps in knowledge and skills required for specific placements, the present study, an ecobehavioral assessment computer program, MS- CISSAR (Mainstream Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response), was used in evaluations of 8 teacher candidates during internship experiences. Results were mixed. Some of the instructional arrangements, teaching behaviors, and student responses resembled those found in studies using in-service teachers as subjects; however, some data revealed a need for changes in instruction. Data gathered with MS-CISSAR could be added to evaluations to help training programs meet NCATE requirements for evidence on teacher candidate performance and candidates’ effect on student learning.
Roberson, L., Woolsey, M.L., Seabrooks, J., & Williams, G. (2004). Data-driven assessment of teacher candidates during their internships in deaf education. American Annals of the Deaf, 148(5), 403-412.

In search of the essence of a good teacher: towards a more holistic approach in teacher education (2004)
There are two central questions determining the pedagogy of teacher education: (1) What are the essential qualities of a good teacher, and (2) How can we help people to become good teachers? Korthagen’s objective is not to present a definitive answer to these questions, but to discuss an umbrella model of levels of change that could serve as a framework for reflection and development. The model highlights relatively new areas of research, viz. teachers’ professional identity and mission. Appropriate teacher education interventions at the different levels of change are discussed, as well as implications for new directions in teacher education.
Korthagen, F.A.J. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: towards a more holistic approach in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 77-97.

National Center for Fair and Open Testing Website.
An advocacy organization working to end abuses, misuses, and flaws of standardized testing and ensure that evaluation of students and workers is fair, open, and educationally sound. Special emphasis is placed on eliminating racial, class, gender and cultural barriers to equal opportunity of education. Position statements and fact sheets are available.
http://www.fairtest.org

Performance Assessment and Electronic Portfolios: Their Effect on Teacher Learning and Education (2005).
This article explores the learning opportunities that standards-based portfolio assessment offers to promote teacher and faculty learning in teacher education. The authors discuss the impact on learning from two perspectives: that of teacher candidates and faculty using a paper-and -pencil approach for portfolio development, mentoring, and scoring; and from that of teacher candidates and faculty who used an electronic platform (UCOPIS) for portfolio development, mentoring, and scoring.
Pecheone, R.L., Pigg, M.J., Chung, R.R., & Souviney, R.J. (2005). Performance assessment and electronic portfolios: Their effect on teacher learning and education. The Clearing House, 78(4), 164-176.

Requirements for an Assessment Procedure for Beginning Teachers: Implications for Recent Theories on Teaching and Assessment.
Uhlenbeck, Anne Marie, Verloop, Nico, & Beijaard, Douwe. (2002). Teachers College Record, 104(2).
Report of a study to determine the best approaches to the development of procedures to assess beginning teachers. Studies on teacher thinking, development, learning, and knowledge were reviewed, and studies on new approaches to teacher assessment were examined. Analyses of these topics led to a proposed framework consisting of 15 implications for the development of beginning teacher assessments. Full text and executive summary. Full text.
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=10828

WestEd (the Assessment Specialty Regional Educational Laboratory).
Assessment and Standards Development Services.
Among other things, WestEd is involved in teacher assessment projects that are making use of new methodologies to document teacher knowledge and skill. These include projects targeting specific teacher groups (for example, certifying teachers to teach English language learners; helping beginning teachers improve their skills). Project samples are available at the web site.
http://www.wested.org/asds/