Impact of content‐specific seminars on candidate edTPA preparation and performance

Abstract

edTPA is a performance‐based assessment used in teacher licensure programs across the country as evidence of a candidate's readiness to teach. Although multiple studies have indicated it to be a challenging assessment and have offered multiple recommendations for candidate support, few have examined the impact of specific means of support. In this mixed‐method study, the authors used surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and edTPA performance data to investigate the impact of content‐specific edTPA support seminars on the preparation and performance of world language and English as a second language teacher candidates. The study provided evidence that content‐specific support seminars can provide opportunities for more tailored support, instructors who are more familiar with content standards and resources, and more consistent messaging than non–content‐specific seminars. Results also indicated that clustering candidates in content‐specific seminars can lead to stronger performance outcomes than seminars involving teacher candidates from a variety of different content areas. Implications for teacher preparation programs are discussed.

When a heritage speaker wants to be a Spanish teacher: Educational experiences and challenges

“…For example, Troyan and Kaplan () advised that explicit writing instruction be part of language teacher preparation coursework since the writing requirements of the edTPA may negatively affect performance. This conclusion was also corroborated by Okraski and Kissau (), who reported the linguistic difficulties faced by nonnative speakers of English. However, given that few if any previous studies have specifically addressed other aspects of HL teacher development, this study sought to answer the following research questions: (1) What motivates HSs to become world language teachers?…”

Stuck in a box: Elementary teacher education students’ perspectives of the impact of edTPA on social studies instruction

“…According to An’s (2016, 2017) research at a COE in the same state in which this study was conducted, programmatic focus on edTPA contributed to the decline of social studies instruction in teacher education programs due to the assessment’s emphasis on ELA and math. However, Okraski and Kissau (2018) note that content-specific seminars and professional development can support teacher candidates’ successful performance on the edTPA portfolio. Consequently, the goal of this study is to gain insights from pre-service and in-service elementary teachers who were enrolled in a Master of Teaching (M.A.T) program at a four-year university in the Southeast about their perceptions on whether edTPA had positive or negative impacts on their preparation to teach elementary social studies.…”

“…Providing content-specific professional development is an important aspect for supporting pre-service and in-service teachers’ performance on the edTPA portfolio, as well as overall effectiveness with curriculum development and instruction. According to Okraski and Kissau’s (2018) study of 496 teacher candidates, participants who attended content-specific seminars for world language and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers scored higher on edTPA tasks 2 and 3 as compared to those who did not. Specifically, participants shared that the instructors who shared their personal experiences, expertise as linguists, and familiarity with the edTPA assessment most impacted their preparedness “to design their instruction to align with their role in the classroom and to make connections to what their students were learning in their content classes” (Okraski & Kissau, 2018, p. 694).…”

The control, content, and consequences of edTPA: World language teacher educators’ perceptions

“…A number of studies have highlighted the assessment's potential to effectively assess aspiring teachers’ knowledge and skills across varying subjects (Youngs & Whittaker, ), but edTPA has motivated only a modest amount of content‐specific research interest, with the exception of, for example, An () in elementary education; Castellano, Duckor, and Wihardini () in elementary mathematics; and Heil and Berg () in music education. In contrast, the impact of the WL edTPA on WL teacher education programs seems to have provided a rich area of investigation (e.g., Behney, ; Hildebrandt & Swanson, ; Jourdain, ; Kissau & Algozzine, ; Okraski & Kissau, ; Russell & Davidson Devall, ; Swanson & Hildebrandt, ; Troyan & Kaplan, ). The present study sought to supplement that existing literature by investigating WL teacher educators’ perceptions of edTPA and its impact on WL teacher education programs.…”