Trouble with the edTPA: Sliding from Teaching to Preparing for the Test

Authors

Stephanie Cronenberg, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Dori Johnson, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Alexis Jones, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Stacey Korson, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Natasha Murray, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Michael Parrish, University of Illinois at Urbana ChampaignFollow
Marilyn Johnston-Parsons, University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignFollow

Abstract

This paper was written by a group of instructors responsible for preparing 100 elementary/middle school licensure students for the edTPA portfolio assessment. It is an analysis of our experiences doing so in the pilot year. The edTPA is a performance assessment required for teacher licensure. We considered this assessment to have significant advantages over a multiple choice test and we debated for a year how best to implement it. Our plan was to integrate what they needed to know into our courses rather than to prepare them directly for the test. We approached this with a positive attitude but emerged with a skeptical one. We gradually slid from preparing students to be teachers, to preparing them for the test. Using a narrative self-study, we chronicle and analyze this unexpected trajectory.

Recommended Citation

Cronenberg, S., Johnson, D., Jones, A., Korson, S., Murray, N., Parrish, M., & Johnston-Parsons, M. (2016). Trouble with the edTPA: Sliding from Teaching to Preparing for the Test. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 8 (1). Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/jiae/vol8/iss1/7

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.