14 4
Findings
The findings of the survey and focus groups identified the impact of the implemen-
tation of the new rubric. This section is presented in three parts aligned with the
research questions.
Conversations Clarifying the Expectations of Preservice
Teachers
A major intention of the APST and the development of the rubric was that preser-
vice teachers be assessed against a comprehensive conception of teachers’ work.
The study sought to investigate if the rubric and the self-assessment and goal-setting
processes expanded the scope of conversations between preservice teachers, super-
vising teachers, school coordinators and teacher educators. The findings suggest
that all stakeholders either strongly agreed or agreed that the use of the rubric and
assessment processes had a positive impact on the scope of the conversations about
teaching in professional experience contexts (see Table 9.3).
The strong stakeholder agreement indicated by the survey results was also sup-
ported by their qualitative comments. School coordinators noted that they used the
rubric to ensure the school provided the required experiences for preservice teach-
ers, and it directed their attention to monitoring preservice teachers’ developmental
needs. Supervising teachers described how they used the rubric to classify, monitor
and plan the development of preservice teachers’ understanding and skills that
aligned with expectations and developmental needs, rather than simply discussing
only things noticed during the lessons observed. Several supervising teachers noted
that the rubric prompted them to provide more comprehensive feedback to address
a number of APST focus areas that would otherwise have been overlooked.
Table 9.3 The rubric and self-assessment and goal-setting processes were useful to understand
the full scope of capabilities preservice teachers were expected to develop
GroupStrongly
disagree Disagree Neutral AgreeStrongly
agree Total
Teacher educators 0% 0% 0% 66.67% 33.33% 15
(0) (0) (0) (10) (5)
Supervising teachers 0% 0% 5.43% 58.70% 35.87 92
(0) (0) (5) (54) (33)
School coordinators 0% 0% 0% 45.45% 54.55% 22
(0) (0) (0) (10) (12)
Fourth-year preservice
teachers0% 10.00% 10.00% 60.00% 20.00% 20
(0) (2) (2) (12) (4)
Third-year preservice
teachers0% 7.69% 7.69% 61.54% 23.08% 13
(0) (1) (1) (8) (3)T.-A. Sweeney and B. Nielsen