Supporting Teacher Candidates Completing the edTPA

Abstract

The edTPA (Teacher Performance Assessment) is an enormous undertaking that requires much time and effort. This can create a stressful situation that can have an impact on the teacher candidates and affect their student teaching experience. With this in mind, schools of education have to look for ways to support teacher candidate and make the process less burdensome while not losing sight of the goals of student teaching or their school missions. This chapter will start with an explanation of the acceptable guidelines for support for the edTPA. It will then move into explaining the challenges teacher candidates face such as mastering unfamiliar language, test documents, and digital literacy skills followed by support strategies. The next section considers the populations of teacher candidates who might need specialized support due to the lack of local scoring and the inherent biases embedded in standardized assessments for a diverse population. The chapter concludes with the benefits and consequences of providing support for teacher candidates to pass the edTPA.

A Critical Examination of Preservice Music Teachers’ Writing on the edTPA Portfolio

“…We also found increased use of edTPA-specific vocabulary was moderately correlated with higher scores on the edTPA portfolio. Critics have argued the scripted format of the edTPA forces teacher candidates into constrained writing and requires the use of specific vocabulary to successfully receive a passing score (Au, 2013; Chiu, 2014; Greenblatt, 2019; Greenblatt & O’Hara, 2015; Madeloni, 2015). Additionally, previous researchers have documented a relationship between vocabulary with quality of writing (De La Paz & Graham, 2002; Olinghouse & Graham, 2009; Silver, 2013).…”

“…More specifically, the number of written pages and number of required commentaries (i.e., candidate writing on planning, instruction, and assessment) across all three tasks have been found to demand a high level of “writing stamina and style” (Bergstrand Othman et al, 2017, p. 271), placing an emphasis on extensive writing and specific vocabulary for the candidate to document their instructional abilities. While Whittaker et al (2018) have stated the “edTPA is designed as an assessment of pedagogy and scorers are trained and monitored to ensure that writing quality does not bias a scoring decision” (p. 9), Greenblatt (2019) asserts the format requires teacher candidates to write on individual components of the teaching process separately (e.g., planning, instruction, and assessment), necessitating the use of both analytical and reflective writing styles.…”

“…Several analyses of the edTPA have shown specific vocabulary germane to the instrument requires additional definitions for students to effectively interpret and write within the task commentaries (Cronenberg, 2020; Greenblatt, 2019), and that the somewhat idiosyncratic vocabulary that is part of the edTPA may not be utilized or emphasized equally across all education programs or content areas (Greenblatt, 2019). It is then plausible to suggest that the scoring of the edTPA portfolio may be influenced to some degree by writing quality, as reflected in word counts and utilization of edTPA-specific vocabulary.…”

Examining Diverse Perspectives of edTPA Policy Implementation Across States: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

“…Furthermore, they argue it builds capacity, improves TPPs, and informs induction of new teachers (Peck et al, 2014;Sloan, 2013). Meanwhile, opponents argue edTPA reflects the privatization of education and devalues institutional knowledge (Dover et al, 2015;Greenblatt & O'Hara, 2015;Henning, Dover, Dotson, & Agarwal-Rangnath, 2018). They also question whether it is a valid measure (Gitomer et al, 2019;Henning, Dover, Dotson, Agarwal-Rangath, Clayton, et al, 2018;Lalley, 2016), given its limited view of social justice pedagogy (Dover, 2018;Sato, 2014) and mixed correlation with classroom effectiveness (Goldhaber et al, 2017).…”

“Protected Teaching Spaces”: Opportunities and Constraints When Teaching for the edTPA

“…Introduced about 10 years ago, the edTPA covers 27 school subjects and in 2017 was used by more than 900 teacher education programs (TEPs) in 41 states, reaching more than 40,000 test-takers (Stanford Center for Assessment Learning and Equity [SCALE], 2018). While some TEPs are still in the process of adopting the edTPA (e.g., State of Texas), others either have never adopted this performance assessment (e.g., Michigan State) or have been using the edTPA for years but are looking for alternatives (e.g., Washington State), citing questions about the test's reliability (Gitomer et al, 2021), objectionable corporate influence through Pearson (Cochran-Smith et al, 2018;Greenblatt & O'Hara, 2015), and its potentially inequitable gate-keeping role (Petchauer et al, 2018) as some of their reasons. These trends reflect the ongoing debate about the benefits and drawbacks of high-stakes licensure requirements.…”