The Intersection of Professionalization, Policy, Performance Assessment, and Privatization as a Conceptual Frame in Teacher Education

Abstract

The complex intersection of interests in policy, privatization, professionalization, and performance assessment in teacher education is rooted in debates about conceptions of what it means to be well educated, which in turn define “good teaching” and how best to prepare teachers for the profession. We recognize that teaching portfolios, a common form of performance assessment in teacher preparation, have been used in teacher education programs since the 1980s. Portfolios have various purposes for preservice teachers: formatively, to facilitate growth; summatively, to assess readiness to teach; as a showcase for prospective employers; and increasingly as part of state certification requirements and mandates, such as the edTPA. This chapter explores the intersection of policy, privatization, professionalization, and performance assessment as a conceptual lens that can lead to a more generative understanding of reforms and trends in teacher education. Specifically, this conceptual lens guides our analysis of performance assessment and related policies and practices as they affect opportunities for teacher learning in teacher education programs in the United States.