Chapter 14 Providing feedback to teacher candidates for National Board certification: A study of teacher preferences and learning

Abstract

In this National Board-commissioned study, we examined types of feedback that teacher candidates for certification might receive along with their score reports after completing the Board's assessment process. We designed three standardized forms of feedback and interviewed 29 teachers from the 1993–1994 Early Adolescent/Generalist cohort about their preferences for each of the feedback options and about the inferences that they drew about their performance based on each type. The three feedback formats were (a) cases – extended descriptions of actual performances, annotated with scorer notes; (b) performance syntheses – brief descriptions of the scoring criteria accompanied by a variety of excerpts from candidate materials portraying performances at each level; and (c) illustrative summaries – evaluative descriptions of various candidate responses. Teachers reported that, of the three standardized formats offered to them, they preferred the cases format with its extended descriptions of an actual performance accompanied by annotated scoring notes. In terms of learning effects, candidates drew reasonably accurate inferences about their performance based on both cases and performance syntheses. The central conclusion we reached based on these findings was that feedback needs to be clearly organized around the scoring criteria for the exercise, and that examples of actual performances illustrating the application of the scoring criteria are important. However, teachers also reported that they would have preferred individualized, customized feedback on their own performance, although this option was not offered by the Board. As well, teachers indicated they would have preferred receiving the standardized feedback as “feedfront” to use in guiding them in their teaching and in preparing their assessment materials.

Citation

Wolf, K., Davis, A. and Borko, H. (2008), "Chapter 14 Providing feedback to teacher candidates for National Board certification: A study of teacher preferences and learning", Stake, R.E., Kushner, S., Ingvarson, L. and Hattie, J. (Ed.) Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The First Decade of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (Advances in Program Evaluation, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 413-436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7863(07)11014-0