What if we do not think this is how assessment should look like? A co-constructed Autoethnography

Abstract

This study explores the implications of school assessment’s demands on our teachers’ beliefs and principles regarding assessment, during our practicum experiences, in three public schools in Medellin, Colombia. In that scenario, we experienced our first conflicts with the predominant language assessment dynamics we encountered when assessing high school students causing discomfort regarding the school's assessment practices. From that discomfort, this research emerged as a way to make sense of our experiences and analyze how our beliefs, principles, and practices evolved due to the practicum experience. The study followed a co-constructed autoethnography method where data was collected through document analysis of the SIEE and interviews with the cooperating teachers aiming to describe the school’s assessment demands; narratives to identify our beliefs and principles about assessment; and collaborative witnessing to outline our assessment practices. The gathered information revealed that initially, we identified our beliefs and principles; then, we maintained them, and finally, we strengthened them. In terms of our assessment practices, we coped with the assessment demands, then, we adapted our assessment practices, and ultimately, we attempted to innovate them. It is important to highlight that not all of us maintained assessment beliefs and principles or innovated assessment practices.