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Modeling authenticassessment for preserviceelementary school teachersThomasenia Lott Adams aa Department of Instruction and Curriculum ,University of Florida ,Published online: 20 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Thomasenia Lott Adams (1996) Modeling authentic assessmentfor preservice elementary school teachers, The Teacher Educator, 32:2, 75-84, DOI:10.1080/08878739609555134

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08878739609555134

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MODELING AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTFOR PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY

SCHOOLTEACHERS

Thomasenia Lott AdamsDepartment of Instruction and Curriculum

University of Florida

Abstract

Teacher educators who promote improvements in the assessment ofstudent learning can also be models of authentic assessment for preserviceteachers. It is not fair to promote appropriate models of assessment butnot implement them in our own teaching, to ask preservice teachers to"do as we say and not as we do." One of my goals for assessment in mymethods courses is to help preservice teachers understand the manydimensions of authentic assessment. This article offers a description ofthose dimensions and examples of authentic assessment that I implementin my mathematics education methods course. The components of myassessment model are designed to provide a broad range of informationfor the purpose of improving student learning.

Assessment of student learning is currently a major topic in allschool discipline areas. There are a myriad of publications, confer-ences, and other professional development efforts that have broughtand continue to bring the issue of assessment in the elementaryschool to the forefront of discussions. Some of the questions that weare now asking ourselves are:

1. How should we assess student learning?2. What should we assess?3. How should we use assessment information?4. How is assessment related to instruction and curriculum?5. What changes in assessment are needed?

We can begin to answer those questions and others when wehave an answer for the following question: What is authenticassessment? Essentially, the meaning of the phrase is created by themeaning of the two separate words. To be authentic means to begenuine, real, reliable, true, and precise. To assess means to examinethe worth or value of some concrete item or an abstraction. By

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combining the two terms and looking at the phrase in the context ofeducation, authentic assessment is the genuine, real, reliable, true,and precise examination of student learning. My first premise fordeveloping my own assessment model is that all assessment ofstudent learning should be authentic. This premise should holdregardless of the nature or method of assessment and should providea background for answering questions about assessment.

Perhaps we can all agree that student learning is directly relatedto students' experiences with classroom instruction. Then it shouldfollow that the assessment of student learning should be related tostudents' experiences with classroom instruction. Thus, my secondpremise is that assessment should be an integral or a necessary part ofinstruction. To guide the development of assessment, which is anintegral part of my instruction, I personalize Webb's (1992) fourtenets for assessment:

1.1 understand the structure of mathematics education, and I usethis structure to define expectations for preservice teachers'learning.

2.1 am sensitive to the processes preservice teachers use to learn, thestages of learning, and the processes required to facilitate thislearning.

3.1 recognize that assessment is a process of gathering informationabout preservice teachers' knowledge and about their cognitiveprocesses, and I attempt to give meaning to this information.

4. I use assessment information to make informed decisions aboutcontinuing and future instruction.

The two premises and the dimensions of authentic assessmentpresented above serve as a framework for the components of myassessment model. The descriptions of those components, i.e.methods of assessment, will offer the reader additional dimensions ofauthentic assessment.

Choosing Methods of Assessment

There are a variety of methods to use to assess student learning. Ichoose methods for two major purposes: to reflect my philosophy ofauthentic assessment and to model authentic assessment techniquesthat preservice teachers can use in their own elementary school class-rooms. There are many variables that may have an effect on a person'schoice of methods of assessment. These variables include thestudents' characteristics and the academic and professional needs

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and aspirations, time constraints, the feasibility of implementing themethod, and the resources that the educator knows to be available tothe students in order for them to meet requirements that are part ofthat assessment. As I make decisions about the methods of assessmentthat I might use for a particular part of the academic year or for aparticular class of students, I continuously monitor the authenticityof the method. In doing so, I search for qualities of the method thatare representative of authentic assessment as previously defined. Inaddition, I recognize that some methods are more authentic thanothers and that some methods may need to be modified or altered inorder to serve as authentic methods of assessment.

Methods of Assessment

Reading and Writing

During the methods course, I assess the preservice teachers' acad-emic and professional growth through assignments that requirereading and writing. These kinds of assignments not only provideuseful information about the preservice teachers and their learningexperiences, but they also set the stage for exercising their communi-cation skills. Two examples from my assessment model are annotatedbibliographies and journals.

Each preservice teacher completes an annotated bibliography.The purpose of this assignment is to encourage the preserviceteachers to (a) become familiar with mathematics educationliterature, (b) learn about resources that may be useful to them asteachers of mathematics in the elementary school, and (c) facilitateacademic and professional growth through decision making, reading,and writing. In addition, I aim to (a) determine the extent to whichthe preservice teachers are able to synthesize information and sharethe results of their synthesis through supporting, refuting, or neutralstatements and (b) gain insight into the preservice teachers' beliefsabout mathematics and about teaching mathematics to youngchildren.

Another reason I require this type of assignment is to prepare thepreservice teachers to read and respond to their students' work. Theassignment gives them practice in reading articles that are written bydifferent people on the same topic and helps them develop thenotion that individual writers (their students) will have manydifferent points of view and that each point of view is to be valuedand assessed in its own way.

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When I review and assess the results of this assignment, I do notsimply check off each annotation and give the preservice teachers fullcredit for the assignment because they provide the correct number ofannotations. I synthesize the information that they compile and givepositive, negative, or neutral comments regarding the ideas theypresent in the annotations. When doing so, I ask myself questionssuch as:

1. Are the ideas clear and concise?2. What ideas are offered that give insight into the preservice teachers

beliefs about mathematics and teaching mathematics?3. How does the summary of the article reflect the content of the

article?4. Is the presentation of the ideas reader friendly?5. Do the ideas indicate reference to applications for teaching mathe-

matics to young children? If so, what references are made? Is thepedagogy sound?

The preservice teachers also maintain a lecture and laboratoryjournal. The entries in the journal relate to the assignments theycomplete and the activities they participate in during the laboratorysessions. They are encouraged to record reflections of their laboratoryexperiences in these journals and to record connections they developbetween the theoretical foundations presented in the lecture andapplications presented in the laboratory sessions. In addition, I oftenintroduce issues for them to respond to in their journals. On three ormore occasions, I collect and thoroughly peruse the journals tofurther assess the students' academic growth as potential teachers ofmathematics. I respond to the journal entries with comments, sugges-tions, and answers to questions they may have. The journals are anadditional resource that I depend on to help me improve instruction.They serve as another format for receiving communication from thepreservice teachers, giving me their perspectives on what they needacademically as well as what I can do to help them to becomeeffective teachers of mathematics.

Examinations

I administer several in-class, written examinations during theacademic term designed to assess the preservice teachers' conceptualand procedural knowledge as it relates to teaching and learning math-ematics in the elementary school. To develop the contents of the

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examinations, I consider a variety of sources (e.g., lectures, laboratoryassignments, activities, text readings, mathematics subject matter,internship experiences, class presentations) and formats (e.g., openresponse questions, short answer questions, multiple choice items,true or false items, concept modeling). For most examinations, testitems require the use of technology, manipulatives, and otherteaching tools and the application of cooperative learning techniques.

The examinations reinforce the relationship between assessmentand instruction. For example, preservice teachers are involved inmany hands-on experiences during laboratory sessions. These experi-ences relate to methodologies for teaching mathematics in theelementary school. The examinations also include hands-on compo-nents that give me an opportunity to assess each preservice teacher'sskill at helping children develop mathematics concepts through theuse of manipulatives and other teaching and learning tools. The itemsalso serve as a platform for helping preservice teachers approachmathematics teaching from a problem-solving and applicationperspective. Consider the following item taken from an examination:

Demonstrate the concepts of regrouping or trading using the base ten blocks tomodel the process and result of 268 + 79. You may provide a sketch of yourmodeling or you may ask me to observe you during your modeling.

This kind of examination item gives me an opportunity to assess thepreservice teacher's (a) understanding of place value, (b) use ofmanipulatives, (c) understanding of the concepts of regrouping ortrading, and (d) ability to be a model for children who are workingon similar concepts and skills. With this kind of examination item,my goal is not to ascertain whether or not preservice teachers havemastered the skills and algorithms of addition (that would be aprerequisite), but whether or not they can help children developaddition skills and concepts.

Even for traditional true or false items or multiple-choice items,the preservice teachers are required to justify their responses inwriting and/or by modeling specific concepts or procedures. Thesejustifications are considered in relation to a preservice teacher'schosen answer. I respond to the completed examination items withwritten comments that are not necessarily corrections to thepreservice teacher's work, in order to help them better assess andimprove their own learning about teaching elementary schoolmathematics.

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Discussions and Observations

I design the course lectures to provide a theoretical foundationfor teaching and learning mathematics. Large- and small-groupdiscussions are initiated during the lecture session, but most of thehands-on activities for application of the lecture content take placeduring the laboratory sessions. During the class discussions, I takemental and written notes on the ideas expressed by the preserviceteachers. I use these notes to develop questions and comments thatwill encourage them to develop different perspectives on an idea or toextend their ideas about teaching mathematics.

In addition, I often assign topics to groups. Each group discussesthe pros, cons, and validity of a topic. For example, I may assign thefollowing question for a group topic: How can we help children whoare at risk of school failure experience success in mathematics? Whilethe groups are discussing their topics, I will circulate throughout theroom to "eavesdrop" on and make notes of the discussions. This givesme an opportunity to hear preservice teachers' points of view aboutissues in mathematics education. It also gives preservice teachersopportunities to listen to the views of their peers and to confronttheir own beliefs and perceptions. When necessary, I may intervenein a group discussion to enhance the discussion, add a point of viewdifferent from those expressed by the preservice teachers, or proposequestions that might give me more information about theparticipants and their preparation for teaching mathematics. Thegroup discussions serve as one model that supports assessment ofstudent learning through classroom discourse.

Collection of Student Work

On a regular basis throughout the term, the preservice teacher swork is collected, assessed, and returned in a timely manner. In thisway, I am assessing them in a formative fashion. This type ofassessment may be in the form of examinations, group discussionreports, article reviews, lesson plans, classroom observation reports,reflections of their practice teaching experiences, etc. Overall, I aimto assess the preservice teachers during different stages of their devel-opment as future teachers of mathematics, thereby giving them anopportunity to examine their own learning and attempt to makeimprovements when and where necessary. I also develop a "runningtab" on their academic and professional growth as future teachers ofmathematics. I use this assessment information to make changes in

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instruction and curriculum to meet the needs of the preserviceteachers.

In addition, I assess preservice teachers in a summative fashionby collecting examples of their work that might give a completeoverall view of how well they have developed from the start of theterm to the end of the term. An example of this assessment is acollection of their work through portfolios. To give them an opportu-nity to show evidence of their professional growth and their potentialas teachers of mathematics, they design and complete mathematicseducation portfolios. The following are examples of items that theymay include in the portfolio: (a) portfolio cover letter, (b) resume,(c) five lesson plans, (d) evidence of implementation of two of thelesson plans included in the above category, (e) a three-page paperthat describes how the preservice teacher plans to incorporate onestandard from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics(1989, 1991, 1995) into mathematics teaching, and (0 a self-assess-ment item of choice. For the self-assessment item, I encourage themto reflect on their academic and professional experiences and growth,then present an item that will reflect their assessment of themselves. Iespecially use this item to fill gaps in my knowledge about theteaching potential of the individual preservice teacher.

They are aware of the requirements for the portfolio at the begin-ning of the academic term, and I encourage them to begin buildingtheir portfolios from day one of the course. I assess the portfolio bycompleting a written report that describes my perception of the indi-vidual components of the portfolio as well as the entire package. Eachpreservice teacher collects the portfolio and the report from myoffice. I use this as an opportunity to interview them individually. Iinitiate discussions about the preservice teacher's portfolio and abouta variety of academic and professional topics related to teaching andlearning mathematics. These conversations are also part of thesummative assessment. Through these interviews, I am able to gatheradditional information about their academic and professionalstrengths and weaknesses. I leave time in the term so that all of thisassessment information can be used to improve their learningexperiences.

Oral and Visual Presentations

Oral and visual presentations are proven methods for teachingand learning mathematics. Presentations are also tools for assessing

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student learning. Presentations exercise learners' skills and conceptsand provide opportunities for learners to be actively engaged inteaching and learning experiences. Through presentations thatrequire the preservice teachers to present their work through speechand physical representations, I am able to assess their understandingof the curriculum, teaching methodologies, and the children thatthey are preparing to teach. Also, I use presentations to assess the pre-service teachers' teaching and learning styles, in the same way thatthey might assess their own students' learning styles. I look for char-acteristics and presentations that might indicate that the preserviceteacher is growing academically and professionally and that alsomight indicate areas of weakness in their learning experiences.

For example, I require them to participate in individual andgroup presentation exercises. They are encouraged to work individu-ally and in small groups during the laboratory sessions and arerequired to complete group projects and make group presentations.For instance, during the unit on statistics, the preservice teachersperform the actions of a statistician: they collect, organize, describe,interpret, and display data (Van de Walle, 1990). As a group, theychoose a topic of study, carry out the study, and present the processesand products of the study to the whole class. They are encouraged tostudy phenomena around them as children in an elementary schoolclassroom might do.

Another example of a group assignment involves developing ameasurement lesson that addresses issues related to diversity amongchildren. These issues include children with special needs (e.g., phys-ical impairment, limited English proficiency), children from a varietyof cultural and/or social environments (e.g., low socio-economichome), and children with a variety of mathematical interests. Ingroups, the preservice teachers design lesson plans and then presentthe plans to the whole class. After they finish the presentations theyare responsible for entertaining questions from their classmates aswell as from me.

I also use the idea of a culminating activity to assess preserviceteachers. This activity provides them with an opportunity to presentand share creative ideas that are applicable for teaching and learningelementary school mathematics. For this assignment, each preserviceteacher creates and presents five "teacher-made" games and/or activi-ties that are applicable to teaching and learning mathematics in the

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elementary school. The preservice teachers are given an opportunityto present the items during a culminating activity fair. They receiveimmediate feedback from me, other mathematics teacher educators,and fellow classmates as we peruse their materials. In addition, theyengage in peer-assessment exercises by questioning presenters andanalyzing presented materials.

During the laboratory session and during presentations, Idevelop anecdotal notes of my observations. I look for evidence ofcooperation, meaningful discourse, dispositions, leadership, applica-tions of mathematics conceptual and procedural knowledge, andapplications of teaching skills. In addition, I use a checklist toformalize information from observations and anecdotal notes and toimplement peer assessment for all presentations. This checklist servesas a model for assessment as well as a mechanism for preparing thepreservice teachers for their participation in peer assessment activitiesas classroom teachers.

Summary

I have presented several examples of how we can implement andmodel authentic assessment for preservice teachers through readingand writing, written examinations, discussions, observations, the col-lection of student work, interviews, and classroom presentations. Thecomponents of the assessment model that I have presented informme and the preservice elementary school teachers enrolled in themathematics education methods course about teaching and learning.My experiences with practicing authentic assessment techniquessupport the following main points:

1. Authentic assessment may involve the use of one or moreassessment methods. I have found that it is more beneficial to meand to the students to implement methods that provide a broadrange of information about the students' learning. When the infor-mation is broad in perspective and yet specific in content, I learnmore about the students' learning and the students get more infor-mation about their academic strengths and weaknesses and aboutways to improve their learning.

2. Authentic assessment relies on an open process. Both teacher andstudent need to be fully informed of the assessment model andhow the assessment information will be used. In most cases, Iprovide this information for the students at the very beginning ofthe course. However, it is sometimes necessary to make changes to

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an assessment model. In such cases, the students are stillcompletely informed about any changes to the assessment modeland how any information gathered will be used.

3. Practicing authentic assessment is not the same as grading. Ofcourse, most assessment information can be graded, but whether itis or not depends on its purpose in the academic process, a conceptoften very hard for the students to grasp because they are so usedto receiving grades for every assignment or task. I make a point ofintroducing assessment to the students as it is outlined at thebeginning of this article. Once they really understand what ismeant by assessment in the given context, they appreciate theopportunities to be assessed separately from being graded. Theyrely on opportunities to take academic risks without feeling threat-ened by a decrease in a numerical grade. They also begin to realizethat as teachers, they may gather information about children thatsimply cannot be gathered by looking at a set of numerical grades.

4. Because students and their needs change from one academic termto the next, it is appropriate to alter an assessment model asneeded. I have established a collection of assessment methods thatI use as a pool to draw from. In addition, I consider all of themethods flexible enough to meet my needs and the needs of thestudents. When a method becomes too rigid to serve designatedneeds, it is no longer useful. I don't throw it away. I simply put itback into the pool until a situation arises that warrants the givenmethod's use.

As teacher educators who support changes and improvements inassessment, we are challenged by our own beliefs to implementmodels of authentic assessment in our methods courses. As we engagepreservice teachers in experiences with authentic assessment methodsor techniques, we are setting the stage for improvement in teaching,learning, and assessment in our elementary schools.

References

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and evaluationstandards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1991). Professional standards forschool mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1995). Assessment standards forschool mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

Van de Walle, J. (1990). Elementary school mathematics. New York: Longman.Webb, N. L. (1992). Assessment of students' knowledge of mathematics: Steps

toward a theory. In D. A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teachingand learning (pp. 661-686). New York: Macmillan.

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