Ellen Osmundson

Assessment Portfolios as Opportunities for Teacher Learning

This article is an analysis of the role of assessment portfolios in teacher learning. Over 18 months, 23 science teachers developed, implemented, and evaluated assessments to track student learning, supported by portfolio tasks and resources, grade-level colleagues, and team facilitators. Evidence of teacher learning included (a) portfolios of a sample of 10 teachers and (b) the cohorts self-reports in surveys and focus groups. Teachers gained understanding of assessment planning, tasks and scoring guides, methods of analyzing patterns and trends, and use of evidence to guide instruction. Teachers made uneven progress with technical aspects of assessment and curriculum-specific assessment. Research is needed on ways to integrate the benefits of a generic portfolio with strategies to strengthen specific areas of assessment expertise.

Investigating the dynamics of formative assessment: relationships between teacher knowledge, assessment practice and learning

This exploratory study of elementary school science examines questions central to policy, practice and research on formative assessment: What is the quality of teachers’ content-pedagogical and assessment knowledge? What is the relationship between teacher knowledge and assessment practice? What is the relationship between teacher knowledge, assessment practice and student learning? Drawing on multiple measures, hierarchical linear modelling and path analysis, results suggest that despite weaknesses in teachers’ content-pedagogical and assessment knowledge, teachers’ formative assessment practices are positively related to student learning. Relationships between teachers’ knowledge and assessment practices are mixed. Findings underscore both the potential and challenge of bringing effective formative practice to fruition as well as the need for continued research.