The development of an Australian teacher performance assessment: lessons from the international literature

Abstract

The requirement for all Initial Teacher Education programmes in Australia to include a capstone teacher performance assessment (TPA) is relatively new. However, TPAs are common in other countries, particularly the United States. In this article, we report on a review of the literature instigated by the authors' involvement in the development of an Australian TPA. Through a systematic review of the international research literature, supplemented by a separate set of preliminary sources, we identify and explore a range of key considerations for the development of TPAs within the Australian context. We focus on common aspects of TPAs worldwide: planning and preparation, observations on and evidence of teaching practice, and student work samples. We then interrogate further issues related to TPAs including the role of schools, principals and teachers; relation to Initial Teacher Education coursework; fairness; validity and reliability; and rubric development. To conclude we present a series of guiding principles to support the development and implementation of such complex, high stakes, and increasingly mandated kinds of assessments.

Teacher candidate perceptions of the edTPA in physical and health education

“…[Q2]; Victorian Institute of Teaching, 2018). While the Australian TPA is similar to the edTPA in terms of expectations relating to TC' s providing evidence of planning, teaching, assessing, and reflection which aligns with professional standards, a major difference between the two countries is that the Australian TPA is not outsourced for examination purposes (Stacey, Talbot, Buchanan, & Mayer, 2019). Assistance for TC's completing the edTPA is also specific to the United States.…”

Low Inter-Rater Reliability of a High Stakes Performance Assessment of Teacher Candidates

“…Issues and concerns that have been raised about TPAs in the United States [3][4][5][6]] (e.g., costs, narrowing the teacher education curricula to accommodate the TPA, the considerable stress that TPAs can cause teacher candidates, outsourced scoring, issues of authenticity, and concerns about reliability and validity) have also been raised about TPAs internationally [7][8][9].…”

Teachers and educational policy: Markets, populism, and im/possibilities for resistance

“…Take the case of Australia, for instance -the national context from which the editorial team for this special issue write. The past 15 years in Australian education policy has featured: the institution of standardised census testing of students via the National Assessment Program, the results of which are made public via the My School website (www.myschool.edu.au; Gorur, 2016); the introduction of national teaching standards and accreditation requirements (Talbot, 2016); and repeated inquiries into initial teacher education, with the introduction of program standards and, more recently, mandated teacher performance assessments (Stacey et al, 2020). Teachers work within (and sometimes, against [Gavin, 2019]) these complex policy positions in ways that often sit in tension with their worldviews and philosophies about what education is, and ought to be (Hogan et al, 2021).…”