Teachers’ Perceptions of Mathematics Content Knowledge Assessments in Professional Development Courses

Abstract

The goal of this follow-up study was to generalize the findings of a previous inquiry into how assessing teachers' mathematical knowledge within a professional development (PD) course impacted the teachers' perspective of their learning and their learning experience. This quantitative research study examined whether the teachers' attitudes about assessments found in the original study were generalizable to a similar population as well as whether factors involving their No Child Left Behind (NCLB) status and prior experience with the PD facilitators were factors affecting their perspectives. Results indicate that the teachers felt that they learned more mathematics, increased their learning efforts, and gained confidence in their understanding of and ability to teach mathematics because they were assessed. Additionally, the teachers' NCLB status or prior experience in PD with the facilitators had virtually no impact on the teachers' perceptions about assessment. Characteristics of the PD that led to these results are explained.