In order to be effective educators in the 21st century, it is essential for teacher candidates to develop a deep understanding of the culture and contextual factors surrounding their students' lives, and the ability to apply this understanding to classroom instruction. This action research study discusses how the implementation of teaching…

As accountability in education has become an increasingly prominent topic, teacher preparation programs are being asked to provide credible evidence that their teacher candidates can impact student learning. Teacher Work Samples, first developed 30 years ago, have emerged as an effective method of quantifying the complex set of tasks that comprise…

Teacher work sample methodology is a form of performance assessment that requires the teacher to describe, analyze, and reflect on student assessment data to improve both instruction and student learning. Some teacher preparation programs have adopted teacher work sample methodology as a means of teaching teacher candidates to gather and analyze…

The purpose of this study was to answer the following research questions: (1) Do secondary social studies pre-service teachers incorporate literacy strategies in their work samples during student teaching? (2) To what extent and under what conditions do secondary social studies pre-service teachers use higher levels of literacy strategies in their…

For eight years, Ohio State University (OSU) has systematically infused teacher work samples (TWS) into their physical education teacher education (PETE) undergraduate curriculum in order to develop effective and reflective teachers. Teacher work samples are made up of five main parts: (1) community mapping, (2) unit planning, (3) data collection…

The purpose of this American study was to examine student teachers' ability to make instructional decisions as they engaged in teaching. We examined the narrative accounts provided by 150 student teachers within their teacher work samples (TWSs). Results indicated that most student teachers were able to implement some aspects of instructional…

Background: To attain accurate information about student performance, teachers must apply sound classroom assessment practices. First, teachers need to be able to understand and identify the purpose of their assessments. Teachers also need to provide their students with clear learning targets, in language that students can easily understand, so…

Teacher Work Samples (TWS) can be viewed in terms of a product and a process. As a product, the TWS measures a teacher candidate's (TC's) ability to promote student achievement, documents that TCs have met minimum national standards, and validates teacher education programs. Teacher candidates engage in observable, job-related behaviors that serve…

Secondary teachers increasingly face student differences in ability, background, socioeconomic status, and language. One method designed to prepare future teachers for dealing with these challenges is the teacher work sample (TWS), which has been widely adopted by colleges of education as part of performance-based accreditation requirements. A…

Recent accountability efforts at state and national levels highlight the importance of preparing future teacher in the skills required to produce sound classroom assessments that are capable of improving student learning through informed instruction. Stiggins (1995) suggests that the quality of classroom assessments will not improve unless teacher…