Community Partners as Assessors: Suggestions for Getting Valid Results

• Published in: Assessment update Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 4 - 14
• Main Author: Schelling, Natalie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 01-07-2023
• Subjects: College School Cooperation; Educational Strategies; Evaluation Methods; Evaluation Problems; Feedback (Response); Formative Evaluation; Measurement Techniques; Partnerships in Education; Student Teacher Evaluation; Student Teachers; Indiana
• ISSN: 1041-6099; 1536-0725
• DOI: 10.1002/au.30353

The Indiana University Kokomo (IUK) School of Education (SOE) collaborates with 38 school districts in the North Central Indiana region in the Clinical Educational Partnership (CEP). The purpose of the CEP is to allow P-12 administrators and teachers to give input on the SOE's program development initiatives. Education students engage in practicum experiences in P-12 classrooms within the CEP schools under the guidance of mentor teachers, who provide assessment of students' competencies. Recognizing the benefits of using P-12 teachers as assessors of students, the SOE faculty and staff work diligently to maintain an assessment system that addresses the challenges of limited knowledge about the assessment process and low response rate. This system includes continuous review of both assessment instruments and their implementation, with attention to maintaining validity and a high rate of return on evaluations completed by mentor teachers. This article presents the successes of this system, highlighting strategies for any academic program relying upon community partners as evaluators of students.