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Over the past decade, a number of countries have developed and implemented
standards-based professional learning systems that focus on the ongoing process of
learning to teach. The standards apply to the professional practice of teachers from
teacher preparation, through induction years, the beginning teaching phase, to
ongoing, continued career development stages (Coolahan 2002; Harrison 2007). The
various sets of standards are described in detail, and have been adopted and
implemented by the agencies that monitor and assess teachers throughout their
career paths. As teachers work toward attaining the expected standards of
professional practice, they are called on to provide evidence of and reflect on the
deepening and expansion of their knowledge and skills as they become effective
teachers, and to determine areas for their growth and development. However, what
comprises the record of evidence that teachers accumulate, how that evidence is best
maintained and presented and what learning the teachers perceive they gain as they
work to meet each standard is left without guidance. This research presents
one framework for the collection of evidence of performance and investigated
*Corresponding author. Email: denney@coe.ufl.edu
ISSN 1356-2517 print/ISSN 1470-1294 online
# 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2011.640997
http://www.tandfonline.com
427
Yet, despite cautionary notes and recommendations, the challenge for assessors
remains how to measure the standards, how to implement assessment procedures,
and what to consider as evidence that the standards have been met, and in a way that
is fair, valid and reliable across IHEs and school sites. To better ensure equitable
assessment, rules need to be specified for gathering evidence about practice
(Ingvarson 2002). Keeping records of evidence that demonstrate trainee teachers
are attaining and appropriately applying professional knowledge and skills, and
possess the professional attributes or dispositions that define effective teachers is
called for by the various authorities that wrote the standards. It is anticipated that
drawing trainees attention to how and if they are meeting the expected standards of
professional practice will create the opportunity for reflection on the knowledge and
skills they are developing as they become effective teachers, and help determine areas
for professional growth and development.
Portfolios are one mechanism to provide direct evidence of student work and
classroom activity by showing the outcomes of the learning environment planned by
the teacher. Portfolios have been developed and used as an assessment tool in initial
teacher training in recent decades and for multiple purposes and in multiple contexts
(Ledoux & McHenry 2006; Zeichner and Wray 2001). Showcase portfolios are useful
for beginning teachers in search of employment and during job interviews. Portfolios
can be summativean accumulation of evidence that supports decisions regarding
the alignment of teacher candidate performance, teacher education programme goals
and initial teacher certification (Ledoux and McHenry 2006). Portfolios can also
serve as a formative measure that provides teacher candidates opportunities to select
materials and reflect on their learning to document their growth during the
programme (Zeichner and Wray 2001). Research on the use of portfolios in preservice teacher preparation programmes internationally reveals that portfolios are a
medium through which student teachers reflect on their professional development
(Groom and Maunonen-Eskelinen 2006; Loughran and Corrigan 1995). Common to
many of the portfolio models is the collection of trainees artifacts, their reflections
and criteria for assessing how these artifacts demonstrate learning outcomes in preservice teacher preparation programmes (Dysthe and Engelsen 2004).
In a US study of the preparation of teachers of students with behavioral
disorders, Bloom and Bacon (1995) found that portfolios assisted the students with
self-reflection and assessment of their development as a professional educator. The
authors found that the portfolios provided assistance to the student teachers in the
development of a wide range of skills to aid in decision-making, problem solving and
establishing a connection with the teaching profession. The portfolio process also
gave the student teachers more self-confidence in their abilities as future educators
through the responsibility imposed and control over their own work. The students
were energetic and enthusiastic about having the opportunity for choice in the
development of their portfolios, which led to addressing complex issues in teaching
instead of writing for faculty approval. Some disadvantages included students
apprehension with the evaluation process, as well as the labour intensiveness of
the assessment process for the faculty. The authors suggested that these issues might
be managed by the active involvement of participating students and faculty in the
portfolio process, as well as the articulation of clear expectations about the
assessment process and required products.
Method
Research site and participants
This study took place at a public university in Southern California with a total fulltime equivalent enrolment of 3000 students. The universitys initial teacher training
programme constitutes one of the largest campus units with approximately 800
teacher candidates enrolled annually in eight different programmes. Twenty-three
teacher candidates and six programme faculty members gave their informed consent
to participate in the study. The recruitment criteria for this study allowed for the
participation of both first- and second-semester trainee teachers who were enrolled in
429
Procedure
The teacher candidates and programme faculty were recruited directly from the
universitys secondary education programme. Participants were provided with an oral
and written explanation about the research study. Of the total number of teacher
candidates who were invited to participate, 100% of these candidates agreed to be
included in the study. Of the seven programme faculty who were invited, six faculty
members consented to participate. Written human subject consents were obtained
from the participants. The candidates and faculty were asked to complete a written
matching task on one occasion. The matching task took the participants between 10
and 15 minutes to complete.
Results
This study was designed to examine the perspectives of teacher candidates and
faculty about the relationships among the portfolios core competencies and
associated candidate learning outcomes as a basis for establishing initial validity of
the secondary education credential programmes portfolio framework. It was of
particular interest to examine if the relationships noted among the portfolios core
competencies and candidate learning outcomes were similar or different between the
teacher candidates and programme faculty.
Perspectives of faculty
Table 2 presents a frequency distribution of the facultys responses to the matching
task. As found with the teacher candidates data, the core competency instructional
process yielded the highest percentages (e.g. range from 83% to 100%) for seven of
the eight candidate learning outcomes. The core competency, learning about students
showed the next highest percentages (e.g. range from 83% to 100%) of relationships
with four of the eight candidate learning outcomes. This finding was in direct
contrast to the teacher candidates data in which learning about students had the
lowest associations with the candidate learning outcomes. Finally, of the four core
431
Faculty
(n 6)
Yes
(%)
No
(%)
Yes
(%)
No
(%)
43
96
96
57
4
4
33
67
100
67
33
0
91
83
17
39
74
87
61
61
26
13
39
33
33
83
50
67
67
17
50
91
78
70
9
22
30
100
100
83
0
0
17
87
13
100
91
100
96
96
9
0
4
4
67
100
100
100
33
0
0
0
17
100
100
83
0
0
33
83
100
67
17
0
96
100
26
30
87
30
74
70
13
70
67
33
83
67
33
67
17
33
83
48
57
17
52
43
83
17
33
17
83
67
Learning environment
Faculty
(n 6)
Yes
(%)
No
(%)
Yes
(%)
No
(%)
83
17
17
83
96
74
48
100
4
26
52
0
100
33
17
83
0
67
83
17
competencies, professionalism revealed the lowest relationships with five of the eight
candidate learning outcomes.
Discussion
As a basis for establishing a portfolio assessment framework, the multiple
perspectives of secondary education teacher candidates and faculty were elicited
order to examine how closely the portfolios core competencies aligned with a set of
candidate learning outcomes. Similarities and differences between the teacher
candidates and the facultys perspectives about the relationships among the core
competencies and candidate learning outcomes were of specific interest in this study.
Some interesting findings emerged.
433
ratings of the relationships between the portfolios core competencies and the
candidate learning outcomes were a definite yes or no.
Several of the candidate learning outcome results were surprising across the core
competencies from the teacher candidates perspectives. The candidate learning
outcome of being a reflective and deliberate practitioner was only deemed strongly
relational (91% and 96%) for the core competencies of instructional process and
professionalism. It is interesting that the teacher candidates did not perceive that
reflection would benefit them in constructing their learning environment or learning
about students. However, this finding makes sense within the context of the
secondary education programmes curriculum. The teacher candidates were very
often asked to reflect on their lesson planning and instructional activities. This act is
called a professional responsibility and teacher candidates were not often required to
reflect on other aspects of the teaching process outside of planning.
The candidate learning outcome of integrating research and theory into teaching
follows a very similar pattern as being reflective. The candidates were exposed to the
theory about instructional processes and learning, and this is framed as a
professional activity. However, it was quite surprising that the core competency,
learning about students received a low rating of 30% when so much emphasis was
placed on learning theory in more than one course throughout the secondary
education programme.
The grouping of candidate learning outcomes that addressed teaching students
with English as a first or second language, relating to diversity of languages and
cultures, and meeting the needs of all students including those with special needs
were all hallmarks of the secondary teacher training programme. The students rated
these areas very similarly as high across three core competencies: learning
environment; instructional process; and learning about students. However, these
three core competencies were not so similar for the core competency of professionalism. It is interesting that teaching students with English as a first or second
language and relating to the diversity of languages was rated as moderate (48% and
57%, respectively) while meeting the diverse needs of students including those with
special needs rated high with 83%. Although, all of these outcomes are considered
the professional responsibility of teachers, one possible explanation for this
discrepancy is that the teacher candidates completing the matching task were all
enrolled in a course entitled Access to Learning: Special Needs Learners. The course
focused on the legal and curricular needs of students with special needs and was
taught by a special education policy specialist.
Finally, it was especially concerning that the teacher candidates did not perceive
the candidate learning outcomes in relationship to the core competency of
professionalism to be more related. Only half of the candidate learning outcomes
generated a strong relationship rating. The core competency of professionalism was
for two semesters the focus for the secondary education programme faculty to
strengthen their assignments within the curriculum. However, these low relationships
raise questions if these efforts were successful.
Overall, it was gratifying that the teacher candidates had such strong opinions
about the relationships between the candidate learning outcomes and the core
competencies of the programmes portfolio framework. Their ratings were discriminatory and assisted in the initial design and validation efforts of the secondary
education programmes portfolios framework.
435
437
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