"I can, but I can't": Kindergarten teacher perceptions of self-efficacy and agency in their use of formative assessment in the current high-stakes accountability climate

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Ferrara, A. (2020). "I can, but I can't": Kindergarten teacher perceptions of self-efficacy and agency in their use of formative assessment in the current high-stakes accountability climate. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Early childhood formative assessment (FA) is a process by which teachers gather data about their students’ knowledge and skills across the five domains of early childhood development in order to scaffold and support their students’ unique learning needs (Heritage, 2013). FA has been the cornerstone of kindergarten instruction for generations (Cuban, 1992); however, with the establishment of the annual accountability mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, nearly two decades of "academic shovedown" (Hatch, 2002) have transformed kindergarten from a play-based, child-centered space to one focused on developing literacy and other academic skills. In 2014, The North Carolina Office of Early Learning created the North Carolina Kindergarten Entry Assessment (NC KEA), a whole-child focused FA designed to both inform the development of programs to support kindergarten readiness across the state by providing a snapshot of the knowledge and skills children possess at kindergarten entry, and to provide kindergarten teachers with data to assist them in individualizing instruction for their new students at the beginning of the school year. This study analyzes three years of qualitative data gathered from educational practitioners across North Carolina to understand teacher perceptions of their self-efficacy and agency in implementing the NC KEA in its developmentally intended manner in the current heightened accountability climate.

Details
Author

Ferrara, Angela

Title

"I can, but I can't": Kindergarten teacher perceptions of self-efficacy and agency in their use of formative assessment in the current high-stakes accountability climate

Physical Description

1 online resource (69 pages) : PDF

Date

2020

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Early childhood formative assessment (FA) is a process by which teachers gather data about their students’ knowledge and skills across the five domains of early childhood development in order to scaffold and support their students’ unique learning needs (Heritage, 2013). FA has been the cornerstone of kindergarten instruction for generations (Cuban, 1992); however, with the establishment of the annual accountability mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, nearly two decades of "academic shovedown" (Hatch, 2002) have transformed kindergarten from a play-based, child-centered space to one focused on developing literacy and other academic skills. In 2014, The North Carolina Office of Early Learning created the North Carolina Kindergarten Entry Assessment (NC KEA), a whole-child focused FA designed to both inform the development of programs to support kindergarten readiness across the state by providing a snapshot of the knowledge and skills children possess at kindergarten entry, and to provide kindergarten teachers with data to assist them in individualizing instruction for their new students at the beginning of the school year. This study analyzes three years of qualitative data gathered from educational practitioners across North Carolina to understand teacher perceptions of their self-efficacy and agency in implementing the NC KEA in its developmentally intended manner in the current heightened accountability climate.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Early childhood education
Education and state
Ethnology

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Accountability
Early Childhood Education
Formative Assessment
Implementation Science
Professional Agency
Self-Efficacy

Subject Area

Anthropology

Advisor(s)

Peterson, Nicole

Committee Members

Wayland, Coral
Lambert, Richard

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2020.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Ferrara_uncc_0694N_12538

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2316