New Teacher Socialization and the Testing Apparatus

2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARAH BYRNE BAUSELL ◽  
JOCELYN A. GLAZIER

Given the well-documented pervasiveness of high-stakes assessment in preK–12 schools, many researchers have investigated how testing affects students. In this article, Sarah Byrne Bausell and Jocelyn A. Glazier explore the ways that high-stakes testing influences beginning teacher socialization and the ways that teacher colleagues shape one another's responses to these policies. The authors use discourse analysis to examine six years of transcripts collected from a series of quarterly teacher discussion groups, during which elementary school teachers talked about their work within the testing landscape. Their findings indicate that high-stakes testing deeply affects teacher beliefs, practices, and socialization behaviors, thus revealing a troubling tendency to position students as numbers and a sharp decline in talk about teaching philosophies and practices develops alongside the testing policy landscape. Bausell and Glazier recommend that teacher educators prepare future teachers with an understanding of the ways teacher socialization unfolds so that new teachers can be mindful of the factors that may shape their practice.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192
Author(s):  
Kirsten Elisabeth Thorsen

Praksislærere har en sentral rolle i lærerutdanning. Forskning peker imidlertid på at både tilfeldigheter og uklarheter er knyttet til utøvelse av rollen. Forskningsprosjektet “Teachers` Professional Qualifications” (TPQ), undersøker intensjoner med den nye lærerutdannings­reformen i Norge i et bredt perspektiv. Denne artikkelen undersøker hvordan praksislærere oppfatter sin rolle og sine oppgaver på bakgrunn av at reformen har ambisjoner om praksis­lærere som likeverdige samarbeidspartnere i lærerutdanning. Studien har utgangspunkt i en spørreundersøkelse med 45 praksislærere i tillegg til dybdeintervju med åtte andre.Resultatene viser at det som kjennetegner rollen som praksislærer, først og fremst er lang erfaring som lærer. I tillegg viser resultatene at generelle læreroppgaver har mer oppmerk­somhet i praksisperioder enn det som er mål i lærerutdanningsprogrammet. På den måten legitimerer praksislærere sin rolle ut av en lærerutdanningskontekst. Studien bekrefter også det internasjonal forskning viser: behovet for å involvere praksislærere i felles prosesser for å utvikle sammenhenger mellom teoristudier og praksisopplæring i lærerutdanning.Fire år etter implementering av lærerutdanningsreformen i Norge er det grunn til å stille spørsmål ved i hvilken grad intensjonene i reformen har blitt realisert. Diskusjonen er i hovedsak knyttet til profesjonalisering av praksislærerrollen og praksislærere som likeverdige samarbeidspartnere i lærerutdanning.Nøkkelord: lærerutdanning, lærerutdannere, praksislærere, forholdet teori-praksisAbstractPractice teachers have a central role in teacher education. However, research indicates ran­domness and obscurity in performing this role. The research project “Teachers’ Professional Qualifications” (TPQ) examines objectives regarding the new Teacher Education Reform in Norway from 2010 in a broad perspective. As the reform places high demands on practice teachers as equal participants in teacher education, this article examines how they perceive their roles and tasks with respect to the intentions. The study is based on a survey of 45 practice teachers and in-depth interviews with eight others.The main results reveal that the role of practice teachers as mentors is based on signifi­cant experience as school teachers and that general teacher activities are more focused than the claims of the educational programs. Practice teachers seem to legitimate their role out­side of the context of teacher education. The study also seems to confirm what international research strongly indicates: the need to involve and cooperate with practice teachers to increase coherence in theoretical studies and school practice.Four years after the implementation of the reform, there are reasons to question the degree to which the reform intentions have been realized. The discussion is related, in particular, to the professionalization of the role of the practice teachers and their role as cooperating participants in teacher education.   Keywords: teacher education, teacher educators, practice teachers, theory-practice relation­ship


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Allen Sass ◽  
Belinda Bustos Flores ◽  
Lorena Claeys ◽  
Bertha Pérez

Teacher attrition is a significant problem facing schools, with a large percentage of teachers leaving the profession within their first few years. Given the need to retain high-quality teachers, research is needed to identify those teachers with higher retention rates. Using survival analyses and a large state dataset, researchers examined teacher data to identify those teacher and school variables associated with attrition. Unique to this study was the investigation of testing era (basic competency vs. higher standards based), school districts’ yearly ratings based on state-mandated testing, and charter school status. Analyses revealed that teacher attrition was greater during the high stakes-testing era, at low-performing schools, and for charter schools; however, beginning teacher age, gender, and school level moderated several attrition rates. Implications for public policy are discussed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 342-347
Author(s):  
P. Michael Lutz ◽  
Jorgen Berglund

As mathematics teacher educators, we grapple with determining the depth of mathematical knowledge required of prospective elementary school teachers in our mathematical content courses. We struggle with identifying the mathematics appropriate for these courses as well as making the mathematics relevant for these teachers. If these classes are housed in a department of mathematics, as ours are, this discussion must take into account the expectations of our departmental colleagues. We examined these issues in spring 2001, when we were asked to redesign a mathematics content course for preservice elementary school teachers. In this article, we describe some of our experiences, including our decision to use middle school mathematics curricular materials as the primary textbooks.


2022 ◽  
pp. 394-415
Author(s):  
Ruth Harman ◽  
Dong-shin Shin

In recent decades, high-stakes school reforms and draconian budget cuts have constrained the autonomy of public school teachers in developing multi literacy approaches with emergent bilingual learners (e.g., English-only laws, high stakes testing). This chapter describes the community and multimodal instructional practices of two urban elementary school teachers/ researchers, developed in the context of a professional development initiative. Using critical, sociocultural conceptions of literacy and qualitative methods of investigation, the paper investigates different aspects of the teachers' writing instruction (i.e., community involvement; genre-based instruction; digital literacy; and multimodality); it also explores how the writing processes of focal bilingual students incorporated these practices. Findings show that this approach positioned bilingual learners as agentive text makers. In addition, the second-grade students developed a heightened awareness of audience and context. Implications are discussed, including the pressing need for teacher collaboration, robust school-university partnerships, and innovative multimodal approaches to literacy.


Author(s):  
Ruth Harman ◽  
Dong-shin Shin

In recent decades, high-stakes school reforms and draconian budget cuts have constrained the autonomy of public school teachers in developing multi literacy approaches with emergent bilingual learners (e.g., English-only laws, high stakes testing). This chapter describes the community and multimodal instructional practices of two urban elementary school teachers/ researchers, developed in the context of a professional development initiative. Using critical, sociocultural conceptions of literacy and qualitative methods of investigation, the paper investigates different aspects of the teachers' writing instruction (i.e., community involvement; genre-based instruction; digital literacy; and multimodality); it also explores how the writing processes of focal bilingual students incorporated these practices. Findings show that this approach positioned bilingual learners as agentive text makers. In addition, the second-grade students developed a heightened awareness of audience and context. Implications are discussed, including the pressing need for teacher collaboration, robust school-university partnerships, and innovative multimodal approaches to literacy.


PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce B. Henderson

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document