Calls for evidence-based reform of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) suggest the question: Do the current indicators of progress and performance used by TPPs predict effectiveness of their graduates when they become teachers? In this study, the indicators of progress and performance used by one program are examined for their ability to predict…

This study investigates the effects of student teachers' hands-on experience with evaluation on their preferences for assessment methods. A course on child development within the 1st year of the elementary teacher education program provides the quasi-experimental learning/teaching setting. Five research conditions are linked to four assessment…

Knowledge of learners' assets beyond the traditional structure of school can provide preservice teachers with essential gateways to connecting learners with the content to be studied, and with forming beneficial social relationships that can enhance learning. This article describes ways that preservice teachers responded to community-based…

Increasingly, teacher educators recommend authentic, performance-related measures for evaluating teacher candidates. Nevertheless, more states are requiring teachers to pass high-stakes, minimum-competency exams. This study examined the relation between teacher candidate scores on authentic measures and their scores on certification exams required…

Examined the impact of school-centered portfolios on professional learning and collaboration. Data from interviews with an urban elementary school principal, staff developer, and teachers indicated that a wide range of conditions contributed to professional learning and collaboration through teaching portfolios (conditions supporting professional…

Presents a teacher knowledge approach to school portfolio development that was used with teachers on five campuses involved in a major national reform movement. The narrative method shows how teacher knowledge is made public and shared through school portfolio making. Particular emphasis is placed on the connections between and among reflection…

Considers whether National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification is as much an evaluation of teachers writing about their teaching as it is of the teaching itself, exploring two NBPTS certificate candidates' experiences, analyzing problems inherent in NBPTS standards and writing difficulties in NBPTS portfolio entries,…

Investigated portfolios as a means of generating the evidence necessary to make judgments about student teachers' teaching and understanding. Data from institutions currently using portfolios indicated that teacher educators focused on rallying evidence that students were meeting standards without much opportunity for meaningful dialogue about…

Investigated preservice teachers' beliefs, definitions, and uses of student and professional portfolios. Surveys of preservice teachers conducted at two times during their training provided data on how their perspectives, methods-course experiences, and field experience contributed to their beliefs and practices surrounding portfolio development…

Documented an elementary school that implemented student portfolios as port of a comprehensive school reform effort. Findings indicated that portfolios were an important mechanism through which teachers came to deeper understanding of their professional practices. Teachers began to recognize changes in classroom practice and school-wide…

Examines student teaching portfolios in action within preservice teacher education, describing how the University of Colorado mandated student teaching portfolios for preservice educators. A study examined whether portfolio construction would enhance student teachers' reflection on practice. Data from interviews and students' written reflections…

Describes how one group of beginning preservice teachers constructed meaning about portfolios during an introductory course in the teacher education programs. Surveys of students who had and had not participated in a portfolio-like intervention indicated that intervention students had significantly increased knowledge and understanding of the…

Discusses use of teacher talk about innovation as an alternative to journal entries in eliciting reflective behavior. Describes a study that investigated whether teachers assembled to discuss portfolio assessment would spontaneously engage in four levels of action (describing, informing, confronting, and reconstructing). Analysis of transcripts…

Describes the evolution of the Vermont state-mandated system of prospective teacher evaluation by portfolio and examines the Middlebury College (Vermont) portfolio design and its effect on restructuring of teacher preparation programs, the student teacher practicum, and professional relationships with cooperating teachers. (SM)