Developing Expertise With Classroom Assessment in K-12 Science: Learning to Interpret Student Work. Interim Findings From a 2-Year Study

Gearhart, Maryl; Nagashima, Sam O.; Pfotenhauer, Jennifer; Clark, Shaunna; Schwab, Cheryl; Vendlinski, Terry; Osmundson, Ellen; Herman, Joan L.; Bernbaum, Diana J.

doi:10.1207/s15326977ea1103&4_5

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Analysis of these six teaching episodes showed PSTs' difficulties in noticing and reasoning about student thinking even when they were provided rich information about students' ideas. Other researchers have documented similar findings (see Gearhart et al., ; Lyon, ; Maclellan, ; Morgan & Watson, ). They pointed out that novice teachers' underdeveloped knowledge about content, teaching and learning, assessment, facility, or skills about assessment can explain these difficulties.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Supporting Preservice Science Teachers' Ability to Attend and Respond to Student Thinking by Design

Kang

Anderson

2015

Sci. Ed.

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A teacher's ability to attend and respond to student thinking is a key instructional capacity for promoting complex and deeper learning in science classrooms. This qualitative multiple case study examines 14 preservice science teachers' (PSTs) responses to learning opportunities created to develop this capacity, as provided by a teacher preparation program. The PSTs engaged in multiple cycles of designing assessments and analyzing student work in coordination with clinical experiences in the field. Drawing upon the notions of responsiveness and noticing, we analyze teaching episodes for whether and how the PSTs in this study attended and responded to student thinking in instructional contexts. Several teaching episodes provide evidence of PSTs' productive responsiveness-suggesting modification in specific elements of instructional design to create better conditions for advancing students' scientific thinking. In general, however, the episodes suggest uneven success in PSTs' responses to student thinking. The findings point to two considerations in designing learning opportunities to enhance PSTs' responsiveness: (a) the use of highquality assessment tasks that make student thinking visible and (b) helping PSTs to reframe the problems by deprivatizing PSTs' interpretations of student responses.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Supporting Preservice Science Teachers' Ability to Attend and Respond to Student Thinking by Design

Kang

Anderson

2015

Sci. Ed.

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“…The literature describes other PD models designed to support teachers in developing their science assessment practice though multiple cycles of assessment. For example, Gearhart et al (2006) described a PD program that engaged science teachers in developing assessment portfolios, guiding them in designing and revising a set of assessment tasks for a single science unit by piloting and revising tasks intended to assess students' learning of particular goals over the course of the unit. Gearhart and colleagues described case studies of three teachers and their developing understanding of assessment goals, tasks and interpretation through their work on the portfolios.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers learning from professional development in elementary science: Reciprocal relations between formative assessment and pedagogical content knowledge

Falk

2011

Science Education

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Formative assessment, assessment used to inform subsequent learning, can have a powerful positive impact on student achievement, but little empirical work has been conducted to investigate the role of teachers' knowledge in its practice. This study investigated reciprocal relations between elementary science teachers' formative assessment practices and their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Data sources included video records and artifacts from a professional development (PD) program that engaged 11 teachers in collaborative analysis of their students' work. Analysis of the data showed that teachers' PCK was a resource in all aspects of their formative assessment practice, and teachers most frequently made use of their existing knowledge of instructional strategies and curriculum. It also showed that teachers constructed PCK through formative assessment by building and refining knowledge of curricular goals and student understanding over multiple PD sessions. Findings suggest that formative assessment can be a powerfulThe research reported in this paper was conducted as part of the study Effects of Content-Focused and Practice-Based Professional Development Models on Teacher Knowledge, Classroom Practice, and Student Learning.

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“…Becoming an expert in teaching has a rich theoretical basis (Clark & Peterson, ; Schemp, Manross, Tan, & Fincher, ; Shulman, ) that entails a shift from limited, context‐free, and in flexible thinking and doing to elaborated, situated, and flexible thinking and doing (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, ; Dreyfus & Dreyfus, ). For example, Gearhart et al () defined assessment expertise as the “relationship between understandings of assessment concepts and facility with assessment” (p. 259) and used that construct to examine changes in teachers’ interpretation of student work. I also conceptualized assessment expertise as a relationship between assessment understanding and assessment facility.…”

Section: Science Teachers’ Assessment Expertise: a Brief Review Of Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During science methods courses, Buck et al () recommend a combination of case studies, practical fieldwork, and opportunities for self‐reflection. More specifically, support can occur through tools (e.g., portfolios) that allow teachers to analyze and make decisions from student evidence (Black et al, ; Gearhart et al, ; Gerard, Spitulnik, & Linn, ; Wilson & Sloane, ). Learning about assessment through a variety of carefully designed tasks and experiences can provide scaffolds that support teachers learning (Ash & Levitt, ).…”

Section: Science Teachers’ Assessment Expertise: a Brief Review Of Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to Assess Science in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Tracking Growth in Secondary Science Preservice Teachers’ Assessment Expertise

Lyon

2013

Science Education

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Although studies have documented teachers' growth in assessing science resulting from professional development or science methods courses, little attention has been given to growth while being prepared to assess a linguistically diverse student population. In this study, the growth of 11 secondary science preservice teachers is documented by expanding the analytical lens-looking at not only how teachers understand and plan to use assessment formatively but also their consideration of assessment design and assessment equity for English learners. Drawing on interviews, open-ended prompts, and program artifacts collected throughout the yearlong teacher education program, quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that the teachers demonstrated the most growth in their expertise at using assessment to support learning. Although quantitative analyses indicate that changes in the teachers' expertise at designing assessment and considering equity in assessment were not statistically significant, additional analyses revealed nuanced ways in which the teachers' expertise grew: expanding their repertoire of assessment tasks, considering alignment of assessment tasks with learning objectives, and becoming more knowledgeable of the role of language while assessing. I argue that broadening how we analyze assessment, combined with an expanded time frame, provides new information about the extent to which teachers are prepared to assess science in linguistically diverse classrooms.

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Developing Expertise With Classroom Assessment in K-12 Science: Learning to Interpret Student Work. Interim Findings From a 2-Year Study

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

Supporting Preservice Science Teachers' Ability to Attend and Respond to Student Thinking by Design

Supporting Preservice Science Teachers' Ability to Attend and Respond to Student Thinking by Design

Teachers learning from professional development in elementary science: Reciprocal relations between formative assessment and pedagogical content knowledge

Learning to Assess Science in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Tracking Growth in Secondary Science Preservice Teachers’ Assessment Expertise

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