From face-to-face to remote evaluation of teacher-education candidates during the COVID-19 pandemic

Although teacher’s personality is an essential component of successful classroom learning, most teacher education programs accept students solely on the basis of scholastic ability scores such as school grades, national test scores (SAT, GRE) or undergraduate college transcripts. To ensure suitability to teaching, a personality-evaluation system was developed in Israel for teacher education candidates. This evaluation system includes non-cognitive measures, such as group dynamic exercises, simulations, a teaching exercise, situational judgement tests, personality tests and an inter-personal interview, all performed face-to-face (FTF) at a testing center. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 brought about lockdowns and social distancing, precluding the administration of this FTF evaluation system. Therefore, the development team adapted the system to online remote testing, using Zoom technology. The present study examined the effect of this transition to remote evaluation on the quality of selection for teaching, looking at suitability-to-teaching scores and the subjective views of applicants and evaluators. A comparison of the 2020 remote scores with the 2019 FTF scores revealed that scores on remote evaluation were slightly lower than FTF scores, and were more centralized. While the candidates found that remote evaluation provided fewer opportunities to express themselves, both candidates and evaluators were satisfied with the administration and convenience of the evaluation day. The Discussion chapter summarizes the unique affordances and constraints of remote evaluations and presents suggestions for changes which might be made when moving an assessment online that could take advantage of this new environment.