Assessing Dispositions: Context and Questions

Abstract

From a summary of aspects of epistemology and practice related to assessment in teacher education, I suggest four recurring problems affecting the credibility of assessment of teacher education candidates and beginning teachers—reductionism, disconnectedness of the aspects of the standards, superficiality in the design and implementation of assessments, and a culture of compliance. Then I examine issues with the assessment of dispositions and use the notions of epistemologies of “intelligence” and “mind” as well as the four problems to suggest competing answers.