Several faculty members including the author were involved in exploring the implementation and effectiveness of research-based assessment strategies in their undergraduate teacher education courses at a Canadian university. The paper describes the process and the results of their ongoing improvement efforts and implications for teacher education and higher education in general. After attending several assessment workshops lead by the author, 12 faculty members implemented new assessment strategies in their own courses to enhance student learning. As the 12 faculty members reflected on their efforts to enhance assessment, a number of themes emerged. These included assessment as authentic performance, establishing clear learning targets, collaboration and community, and integrated assessment and instruction. Our results support the claim that current ideas about K-12 assessment are applicable to post-secondary education and can improve student learning outcomes. Developing balanced and integrated assessment systems is perhaps the most significant innovation we engaged in and we conclude that it has the potential to fundamentally change what occurs in university classrooms. Plusieurs professeurs, y compris l’auteur, ont exploré la mise en oeuvre et l’efficacité de stratégies d’évaluation basées sur la recherche dans le cadre de leurs cours de formation pour les enseignants. L’article décrit le processus et les résultats de leurs efforts pour améliorer la formation des enseignants et plus généralement l’enseignement, ainsi que les implications de cette approche. Après avoir participé à plusieurs ateliers sur l’évaluation dirigés par l’auteur, 12 professeurs ont mis en oeuvre de nouvelles stratégies d’évaluation dans leurs propres cours pour améliorer l’apprentissage des étudiants. Quand les 12 professeurs ont réfléchi sur leurs efforts pour améliorer l’évaluation, un certain nombre de thèmes sont apparus, entre autres : l’évaluation en tant que performance authentique, l’établissement d’objectifs d’apprentissage clairs, la collaboration et la communauté, l’intégration de l’évaluation et de l’instruction. Nos résultats étayent l’affirmation selon laquelle les théories actuelles sur l’évaluation dans les écoles (K-12) sont applicables en enseignement post-secondaire et peuvent améliorer l’apprentissage des étudiants. Le développement de systèmes d’évaluation équilibrés et intégrés est peut-être l’innovation la plus importante dans laquelle nous nous engageons et nous en concluons que cette pratique a le potentiel de changer radicalement ce qui se passe dans les salles de classe des universités.

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Assessment practices in schools have undergone dramatic changes over the last decade, and applying this knowledge to the assessment of student teachers is a challenge currently facing teacher preparation programs. K-12 assessment has moved towards a "backwards design" approach, greater student involvement, a wider range of strategies, and assessment systems that balance summative and formative assessment. However, the assessment of student teaching performance during field experiences has often overemphasized summative assessment, collecting data for making judgments, at the expense of formative assessment, gathering information to improve student teacher performance. Recently, one institution recognized the need to reexamine its approach to field experience assessment based on the thrust towards 21st century education, the growing knowledge base in assessment, and feedback from its educational partners. The article is a case study of this improvement initiative: the context, process involved, the outcomes of the improvement process, and implications for teacher education.

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