What is edTPA?edTPA (educative Teacher Performance Assessment) is a summative, subject specific portfolio-based assessment of teaching performance completed during a teacher candidate’s professional preparation program during clinical practice (student teaching). edTPA is currently being used in at least 24 states and Washington DC as a performance assessment or licensure requirement. For more information please visit: edTPA and NJ Department of Education From where did edTPA come?edTPA was developed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE). It is modeled after the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ assessment of accomplished veteran teachers but is designed for initial licensure candidates. SCALE is responsible for the content of the assessment handbooks including the guidelines, tasks and rubrics. SCALE has partnered with Pearson to manage the implementation and professional scoring. What do teacher candidates need to do?Teacher candidates must submit a portfolio of work that consists of at least three tasks focused on a learning segment of three to five lessons in one class; collected artifacts such as lesson plans, student work samples, assessments, video recording (required); and written commentaries in response to subject-specific prompts. Planning for Instruction and Assessment Building Content Understanding How do your plans build and apply students’ understanding and/or skills? Supporting Learning Needs How do you differentiate instruction based upon your knowledge of your student’s learning needs? Using Knowledge of Students What are the contextual factors of your students, classroom, school, district, community and how does this inform your instructional plans? Using Academic Language How do you plan to use multiple language demands (vocabulary, function, syntax, discourse) to support learning and understanding? Assessments to Monitor Student Learning How are you assessing student understanding formatively and summatively? Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning Learning Environment How do you create a positive learning environment? (video) Engagement in Learning How do you actively engage students in learning to further their understanding of the content or skill? (video) Deepening Thinking How do you draw and utilize student responses to promote deeper understanding? (video) Subject Specific Pedagogy What do you do to support learning, exploration and application of knowledge or skill? (video) Assessing Student Learning Analysis of Student Learning How do you analyze evidence of student learning? Providing Feedback What feedback do you provide students to support their learning and growth? Supporting Student Use of Feedback How do you engage students in applying your feedback? Use of Data to Inform Instruction How do you use the analysis of student learning to inform your future teaching? How are teacher candidates assessed?edTPA portfolios are assessed based on five rubrics per task developed to assess the different areas of effective teaching that the teacher candidate demonstrates through their submission. Official scoring is completed by content experts who are hired, trained and supervised by Pearson.
