(1158.pdf) HIGH-STAKES ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING PERFORMANCE FOR TEACHER ACCREDITATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A STUDY OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN ONE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

摘要

A new assessment tool to evaluate the preparation of pre-service teachers has been developed in theUnited States in the last few years and will soon became one of the most high-stakes assessmenttools in teacher certification. The Teaching Performance Assessment (edTPA), developed in Californiaby Stanford researchers, is this assessment that aims at ensuring the quality of teachers andincreasing the confidence that the public had in teachers and their preparation. The edTPA has beensupported by a consortium of more than 25 states and their departments of education, and a move tomake the edTPA a requirement to obtain a teaching license in these states has emerged. In order tohelp the edTPA become a nationally available assessment of readiness to teach for novices, PearsonCorporation has joined the scene. Pearson will provide Stanford University with the capability todeliver the edTPA nationally. The high-stakes implications for education students and colleges makethe analysis of this assessment and its implementation of paramount importance. This paperdescribes the edTPA and its major contributions, examining issues of reliability and validity. This studyalso analyzes the experience of one teacher education program with this instrument in the last twoyears. It illustrates how the department felt about some potential tensions and risks of state mandatedpolicies and changes; with insights from both teacher educators and teacher candidates. Thisinformation can be valuable to other teacher education programs or colleges of education, either in theUS or in other countries, and to educational policymakers that are trying to improve the ways in whichthey assess the quality of their teachers and the overall effectiveness of their teaching programs.