The importance of students being acquainted with algebraic ideas before secondary education has been revealed in the research literature. It is therefore essential that prospective elementary teachers (PTs) be prepared to instill an early algebra perspective in their teaching. However, PTs often show difficulties in algebra content knowledge,…

Within initial teacher education there is increasing pressure to enhance the use of assessment data to support students to improve their knowledge and skills, and to determine what standards they meet upon graduation. For such data to be useful, both programme designers and students require meaningful and comprehensive assessment reports on…

Current teaching standards and practices are dictated, at least in part, by state- and district-mandated standardized tests. Yet, despite being surrounded by data, teachers receive only basic trainings on how to use assessments. In reality, teachers use data and assessments daily--even minute by minute--through the assessment process, which uses…

This paper reports on the knowledge for teaching mathematics of 294 pre-service primary teachers from seven Australian universities participating in a project aimed at establishing a culture of evidence-based improvement of teacher education. The project was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Rasch measurement techniques were…

Social studies education is a field in which those involved--teachers and students--encounter what can be called "difficult knowledge". Difficult knowledge is a theoretical construct suggesting that when an individual encounters representations of social and historical trauma in a learning situation there exists a host of emotional and pedagogical…