PROSPECTIVE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' CONCEPTIONS OF AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT MATHEMATICS TASKS

Mathematics teachers need to hold knowledge of alternative ways of assessment that are aligned with the objectives of reform-oriented mathematics curriculum. This paper reports on a study to explore prospective elementary teachers' conceptions of authentic assessment and authentic assessment tasks in relation to teaching and learning mathematics as the first stage of a project aimed at helping them to improve their assessment literacy. Findings, based on data consisting of interviews and participants' creation and analysis of mathematical tasks, indicate limitations in the participants' conceptions and the need for intervention to help them to clarify, extend, and reconstruct their conceptions of assessment and coherence among assessment, curriculum, teaching, and learning.