Developing a Critical Lens Among Preservice Teachers While Working Within Mandated Performance -Based Assessment Systems

This article addresses the dilemma of promoting critical pedagogy . within portfolio assessment, which has been implemented in many teacher education programs to meet stale and national mandates for performance-based assessment. It explores how one teacher educator works to move portfolio assessment to a level of critical self-reflection that prepares teachers to address the complex issues presented by a multicultural society, First, this article describes the ways that critical inquiry methods, democratic dialogue, and portfolio assessment can be integrated to the study of theory and preservice teachers' self. reflection as a bridge to developing a critical lens for classroom practioe and a democratic society. Second, it presents preservice teachers' narratives of critical self-reflection. ~ The call by state and national accreditation policy makers for per~. formance-based assessment has resulted in portfolio assessment systems in many, if not most, teacher education programs (R. S. Anderson & DeMuelle, 1998). It is important that teacher educators continually examine the impact of portfolio assessment on preservice teachers' knowledge, dispositions, and teaching performance. Critical to that eXl1mination is an examination of the standards that frame teacher education programs. In the case of this study, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards (1992) and the Indiana Professional Standards Board rules (2002) frame the portfolio assessment of preservice teachers' learning products. The standards drive the interpretation of curriculum and instruction as preservice teachers submit portfolios with 30 artifacts and reflections that connect learning with knowledge, dispositions, and performance considered characteristic of reflective teachers. Thus, this study brings .to the forefront the importance of examining the interplay between the standards and portfolio assessment for critical pedagogical development, and it addresses the dilemma of promoting critical pedagogyl within portfolio assessment as a measurement for teacher certification. As a teacher educator who is interested in preparing teachers to address the complex issues presented by a multicultural society as a form of critical pedagogy, 1 continue to ask myself how to move portfolio assessment to a level Developing a C7·itica/ Lens 147 of critical self-reflection2 that is at the core of critical pedagogy (Breault, 2003; Freire, 197312003). Portfolio assessment promotes reflection on learning experiences (R. S. Anderson & DeMuelle, 1998; Camp, 1998; Moss, 2003; Moss & Nichols, 2002; Murphy, 1998), but aligning the process with the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards (1992) does not ensure the development of critical pedagogy toward the goal of preparing citizens for a democratic society, especially if teacher educators and preservice teachers view the portfolio as a mandated product of mastery learning. As committed to scholar-practitioner teacher education1 (Moss, 2004a; Torres & Mercado, 2003), I believe that teacher educators must playa leading role in preparing teachers as instructional leaders, critical inquirers, and researchers in educating and informing the public about best instructional practices by bringing relevant research-based perspectives to the public schools and community for dialogue and promotion of democracy in education. As such, three questions drive decisions as I design methods courses for preservice teachers: How can I engage preservice teachers in critical reflection on theory? How can I engage preservice teachers in critical selfreflection? How can I assess critical reflexivity among preservice teachers? With those questions in mind, I frame my courses in part by the critical work of Freire (1973/2003), Rodgers (2002), Shor (1996), Jenlink and Carr (1996), Burbules (1993), Issacs (1993), Giroux (1985, 1988), Nieto (1999), and Dewey (1915,1916,1938). This article first describes the ways that I have integrated critical inquiry methods, democratic dialogue, and portfolio assessment as integral elements to the study of theory and for preservice teachers' critical self-reflection. I argue that this integrated practice can serve as a bridge to developing a critical lens for classroom practice and a democratic society. Second, this article presents an analysis of preservice teachers' narratives of critical self-reflection of learning to teach within portfolio assessment. PortfOlio Assessment Systems in Teacher Education Portfolio assessment in teacher education offers an alternative to test-driven instruction when it follows learning, rllther than when it leads it (Stowell, McDaniel, Rios, & Kelly, 1993, p. 61). As portfolio assessment in teacher education evolved, a distinction was made between the formative developmental process and the summative exit point (Centra, 1996; Green & Smyser, 1995). Green and Smyser (1995) have argued that portfolio assessment could be an endless formative process throughout the life of a teacher. Formative focuses on the developmental process and provides evidence of continual improvement, growth, and learning. Summative assessment corresponds with a