Culturally responsive pedagogy and the assessment of accomplished teaching

This article addresses the complexities and psychometric challenges facing efforts to devise a standards-based performance assessment of teaching that is appropriate for teachers in a wide variety of contexts and that also satisfies psychometric considerations of reliability and validity. in particular, the question of whether a general assessment of; teaching practice can be sufficiently comprehensive to honor and recognize accomplished culturally relevant pedagogy is considered. Drawing upon the experience of the National Board far Professional Teaching Standards, it is argued that such an assessment, although presenting enormous technical challenges, is both possible and practically attainable.