An ethnography of performance-based literacy assessment and classroom instruction
Bauer, Eurydice Bouchereau
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23299
Description
Title
An ethnography of performance-based literacy assessment and classroom instruction
Author(s)
Bauer, Eurydice Bouchereau
Issue Date
1996
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Garcia, Georgia E.
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Elementary
Education, Reading
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Language
eng
Abstract
This year-long ethnographic study provides an in-depth view of one primary classroom teacher's use of mandated performance- and classroom-based literacy assessment in a first-second grade classroom. By describing the district's literacy instruction and assessment policies, and by interviewing key district personnel, the researcher documented external influences upon the teacher's instruction and assessment.
The teacher used the district mandated performance assessment tasks. However, the timing and content of the tasks did not inform her instruction. With the help of the Language Arts Resource Specialist, the teacher developed student-centered portfolios, which did inform her instruction, resulting in changes in how she taught different levels of readers in her class. The teacher's instruction of the low and average groups changed from being only teacher-directed instruction in ability groups, to including individual conferences. She changed her emphasis from decoding and comprehension questions to meaning construction, student selection of appropriate books, and student self-monitoring.
This study suggests that if mandated performance-based literacy assessments are to inform instruction, then they must be student-centered literacy activities which are scheduled throughout the year. Whether such assessments can inform instruction at the same time that they provide accountability data for administrators, needs further investigation. The teacher's use of student-centered portfolios indicates that teachers do not have to be fully grounded in whole language or literature-based reading before they can use portfolios to inform their instruction.
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