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This article details the challenges encountered by an elementary schoolteacher as he tried to introduce new assessment practices in his classroom. The case study seeks to identify and describe the factors that influenced this teacher's introduction of portfolios and student conferences in the context of the complexity of student assessment practices. The empirical work for the case study, which was set in the context of a collaborative research program, was conducted over a 12-month period with a grade 7-8 generalist teacher, George, in a small urban school. Several modes of data collection were used in the study: classroom observations, informal discussions, and scheduled interviews. Analysis identified four dominant influences on George's implementation of the new assessment program: (a) his beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning; (b) his understandings about these newer forms of assessment and their influence on his other classroom practices; (c) his involvement in the overall collaborative research program; and (d) the contextual influences of the school environment. The study concludes that, without altering his beliefs about teaching and learning and his teacher-centered instructional practices, George would find it particularly difficult to implement a student-centered assessment program in his classroom.
Cet article explique en detail les defis auxquels a fait face un enseignant en elementaire alors qu'il a essaye d'introduire de nouvelles strategies d'evaluation dans sa salle de classe. Cette etude de cas tente d'identifier et de decrire les facteurs qui ont influence cet enseignant pendant son introduction de dossiers personnels et de conferences par les eleves dans le contexte complexe qu'est celui de l'evaluation des eleves. Le travail empirique pour l'etude de cas, accompli au sein d'un programme de recherche collaboratif, s'est deroule sur une periode de douze mois avec un enseignant generaliste en septieme et huitieme annee (George) qui ouvrait dans une petite ecole en milieu urbain. On a eu recours a plusieurs methodes de cueillette de donnees: les observations en salle de classe, les discussions informelles et les interviews organises. Une analyse a permis de faire ressortir quatre facteurs dont l'influence a ete determinante dans la mise sur pied par George du nouveau programme d'evaluation: (a) ses croyances quant a la nature de son enseignement et de l'apprentissage; (b) ses connaissances au sujet des nouvelles formes d'evaluation...