Chapter 5 The role of subject-matter knowledge in teacher assessment

Abstract

This chapter outlines some of the challenges in assessing teachers’ subject-matter knowledge. After reviewing traditional ways of mapping a domain, such as job analysis and “wisdom of practice,” the author alights on the two constructs, depth and breadth, that have come to define how teachers’ subject-matter knowledge is conceptualized. He argues that these two constructs constitute an impoverished vocabulary that misrepresents the complexity of the subject-matter knowledge teachers most need for effective instruction. He proposes an expanded set of constructs – differentiation and elaboration, qualification, integration, generativity, and epistemological knowledge – that better approximate the complexity of a subject-matter domain and serve as a better guide for creating an assessment system.

Citation

Wineburg, S. (2008), "Chapter 5 The role of subject-matter knowledge in teacher assessment", Stake, R.E., Kushner, S., Ingvarson, L. and Hattie, J. (Ed.) Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The First Decade of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (Advances in Program Evaluation, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 113-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7863(07)11005-X