Graduate Students and Field Experience: Aligning Curricular Goals with Multiple Measures of Assessment

Field placements in teacher candidate preparation have long been established as significant and formative for learners. Teacher educators attempt to align course goals with fieldwork and then assess candidate progress. This authentic practice has been highly valued for preservice candidates. For educators in the United States, providing an authentic experience for part-time graduate students has become a challenge. This article examines the use of a Saturday instructional experience with course goals, authentic instruction, and multiple measures of assessment. Linked to the experiences are the multiple forms of assessment that are used for candidates and the students with whom they work. In this setting a group of students from a lower socioeconomic background and distressed school district are employed.