NCLB/ESSA-generation pre-service teachers: Their struggle to merge test-prep instruction with student-centered engagement

Current pre-service teachers (PSTs), referred to as the NCLB/ESSA-generation, received their K-12 schooling during the education accountability era of high-stakes standardized testing. There is little research exploring these PSTs’ ability to accommodate the disconnect between their K-12 experience composed largely of teacher-centered, test-prep instruction with the more student-centered, engaging, and experiential learning mindset promoted in many colleges of education. As such, this study, conducted in a public university in the Rocky Mountain Region, explores PSTs’ K-12 experiences with, motivation for, and stress related to standardized testing, and the practical position they are choosing to implement in their future teaching. Utilizing a modified concurrent transformative mixed method design, a survey (N=210) reveals PSTs’ K-12 experiences with standardized testing. Additionally, student oral and written reflections (N=52) concerning standardized test-based accountability practi