Preliminary Evidence on Measurement Characteristics for the Foundational Assessment of Competencies for Teaching Performance Tasks

Abstract

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Using Performance Tasks to Provide Feedback and Assess Progress in Teacher Preparation

“…In the first study, the tasks were administered to a sample of 59 novice teachers in the last year of their program. As reported in Phelps, Bridgeman, et al (2020), administration times were within the desired time parameters and human raters had an acceptable level of agreement for an initial pilot. Results from the pilot administration and scoring were reviewed to guide revision of eight RLA and eight mathematics tasks.…”

“…The focus of this study was on gathering input from teacher educators on the potential for using short performance tasks as part of their teacher preparation methods coursework. However, the potential uses for these performance tasks go substantially beyond providing opportunities to learn core practices as part of teacher preparation and also include uses such as diagnosing professional learning needs; delivering end‐of‐course evaluations; providing initial licensure; and studying, evaluating, and promoting teaching quality (Phelps, Bridgeman et al, 2020; Phelps & Sykes, 2020). Considering a more comprehensive set of uses could provide additional context for understanding the value of these tasks as tools to support professional learning.…”

“…The short performance tasks used in this study build on and extend frameworks that have been used to develop assessments of content knowledge for teaching (CKT) (Phelps, Gitomer, et al, 2020). However, while CKT assessments identify knowledge used in tasks such as evaluating student work or selecting material to meet particular learning goals, the new performance tasks focus on teaching skills such as explaining content procedures or modeling concepts (Phelps, Bridgeman, et al, 2020). Extending the CKT frameworks provides a useful basis for integrating practice‐based knowledge and skill (Phelps & Bridgeman, 2022; Phelps & Sykes, 2020).…”

The practice of licensure, the licensure of practice

“…Such costs would need to be balanced against the benefits of providing evidence of teaching competencies that focus directly on the work of teaching. However, preliminary research suggests that practice-based knowledge and performance tasks can be developed, scored, and administered in ways that are cost effective and that provide valid and reliable evidence of teaching competence (see for example, Mikeska et al, 2018; Phelps, Bridgeman, et al, 2020; Phelps, Steinberg et al, in press).…”