Exploring Chilean Teacher Candidates’ Assessment Literacy

Despite substantial investment in teacher preparation, low levels of teacher assessment literacy persist, particularly with respect to the sociocultural and ethical dimensions of assessment. This study reports on interviews with 12 Chilean elementary teacher candidates (TCs). During interviews, TCs reviewed a set of assessment challenges and reported how they would address each challenge. Challenges were designed to elicit assessment as, for, and of learning in response to assessment challenges involving language and culture. Chile presents an interesting context due to its strong policy emphasis on formative assessment and a changing, increasingly diverse student population. TCs’ proposed assessment moves were highly context-dependent and tended to favor formative practices. Culturally responsive assessment approaches were also mentioned, but were primarily oriented toward valuing students as individuals rather than toward sustaining and expanding cultural and linguistic identities. Responses also reflected dominant group-oriented perspectives, characterized by deficit views or the absence of sociocultural considerations. Together, these results highlight the challenge of moving beyond technical assessment skills toward developing the dispositions and skills necessary for justice-oriented classroom assessment practices.