Teachers’ Ideas and Practices About Assessment and Instruction

Participants involved in this study were part of a year-long intervention designed to help teachers develop performance assessments in reading and mathematics. Seeking to evaluate teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices about assessment and instruction, the researchers also studied the changes that occurred to teachers during the first semester of the intervention program. Findings from the study indicated that the performance assessment development and implementation process led to teachers having better understandings and new insights into students’ thinking and learning than when teachers relied exclusively on more traditional forms of assessment. However, it was not clear to what extent teachers changed their instructional programs to take advantage of their newly gained insights. Based on their observations so far, researchers feel confident that as the program continues, more extensive changes will occur.