How is my child doing?: Preparing pre-service teachers to engage parents through assessment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to help pre-service teachers develop basic knowledge and skill for partnering with families on assessment-related issues. An assessment class for teacher educators (experimental group) participated in role-playing activities designed to expand their understanding and skill in a way that would help them learn how to partner with parents. Role playing included situations related to student assessment. A pre-post measure design was used to test whether the experimental group improved relative to another section (control group) of the assessment class that did not participate in the role-playing activities. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group gained more knowledge about parental engagement and communicating with parents than the control group. Coding and analysis of the students’ role-playing assignments demonstrated that most students gained valuable skills in working with parents on assessment issues, and students in the experimental group endorsed the role-playing activities as valuable for their education as teachers. Results are discussed in terms of possible contributors to the change and of implications for teacher education.

Keywords:

• assessment
• parent engagement
• teacher education
• role-playing