Pre-service elementary teachers' mathematical beliefs and attitudes about high-stakes testing

This dissertation is a study of pre-service teachers' mathematical beliefs and attitudes about high-stakes testing How well are we preparing pre-service teachers to meet the needs of diverse students in an era of high-stakes testing? Preparing teachers as change agents begins with an understanding of the beliefs that underlie teacher decisions and classroom practices. Reform-minded mathematics educators' views regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics are often very different, and contrast sharply from the view of the pre-service teachers in their mathematics programs. While several studies have explored the effects of high-stakes testing on the decisions and practices of experienced teachers less is known about the development of pre-service and beginning teachers within a high-stakes testing environment.;This study consists of quantitative and qualitative components. The first component was developed based on the surveys used by Raymond (1993) and Hart (2002) to examine pre-service teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. The second component involved interviews with seven pre-service teachers at a public university in New York State.;Results were generally consistent across the different methodologies and data sources. Pre-service teachers exhibited an orientation towards traditional beliefs about mathematics, such as beliefs about the importance of rules and procedures. Researchers acknowledge that high-stakes testing pressures teachers to devote classroom time to prepare students for the test instead of teaching for conceptual understanding. The interviews with the pre-service teachers revealed that their personal experiences with high-stakes testing had an effect on how they viewed these assessments: they overwhelmingly believed that students were tested too often and too much emphasis was placed on passing the test. The pre-service teachers believed that under no circumstance should teachers teach to the test.;This research demonstrates that despite many reforms in teacher preparation and education more research is needed for ways in which the teacher preparation courses help pre-service teachers move from focusing on mathematics rules and procedures to focusing on teaching mathematics to enhance conceptual understanding, especially in a high-stakes testing environment.