What counts and why? : assessment in teacher education

In this dissertation I consider the ways that pre-service teachers are assessed in the middle of their program. I conducted my research at Galaxy University, a large, Midwestern university that had just completed its CAEP accreditation. Here, I collected syllabi, core assignment task descriptions and rubrics, and de-identified pre-service data submissions, as well as interviewed course instructors. I then analyzed my data to look for trends and themes, as well as with the goal to better understand the choices made around assessment decisions. Throughout my research, I paid special attention to issues of fairness and how this led to tensions in the decision making process.