Development and Evolution of Teacher Dispositions Framework and Assessment

Introduction

Developing effective teacher dispositions is embedded in all teacher preparation programs. Colleges of education are designed to support students in building a foundation of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and dispositions that ensure pre-service teachers who enter the classroom are prepared to serve their students well. Council of the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) defines dispositions as “the values, commitments, and professional ethics that influence behaviors towards students, families, colleagues, and communities that affect student learning, motivation, and development as well as the educator’s own professional growth” (http://caepnet. org/glossary). Altan, Lane, and Dottin (2019) highlight that dispositions have become a significant focus for teacher education programs: however, the term disposition has been interchanged with terms such as values, beliefs, habits of mind, and mindset to name a few. They note that this blending of terms promotes multiple interpretations for what effective dispositions should entail. Bercaw et al., (2012) also discusses the complexity of defining dispositions and suggests that the programs created to develop and assess dispositions are informed by the varying definitions.

The authors recognize that dispositions according to CAEP include values, commitments, and professional ethics, and they are cultural in nature. Because of this, disposition frameworks and assessments need to be living documents that are consistently revisited. The purpose of this chapter was to describe the process of exploring our current framework to reflect on how our tools could be more effective for our students.