 An Introduction to the edTPA Performance Assessment For All Initial Licensure Programs Saint Xavier University

What is the edTPA?  The edTPA is a national performance assessment focused on readiness to teach.  The edTPA was organized and developed by the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC)  Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, & Equity (SCALE)  American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)  Institutes for Higher Education (IHE)  25 State Education Associations

As you can see the edTPA was designed for the profession...by the profession. The edTPA was developed by more than 1,000 teachers and teacher educators from 26 states. It builds upon the model of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and assesses subject specific pedagogy in 27 distinct licensure categories. The purpose of the edTPA is to measure novice teachers’ readiness to teach.

The State of Illinois & SXU Following the State of Illinois guidelines, the edTPA is a required assessment for candidates seeking a professional educators license – effective September 1, At SXU the passing of the edTPA is a benchmark/gate that will take place during the Student Teaching semester..

Why the edTPA? 3 advantages...  The edTPA complements the 3 traditional certification exams by allowing teacher candidates to demonstrate their readiness for the classroom through performance vs a ‘test’.  The edTPA also prepares teacher candidates for the new teacher evaluation system.  The edTPA poises candidates for application for National Board Certification.

The edTPA tasks are built around what we know effective teachers do...  Engage Students in active learning  Create intellectually ambitious tasks  Use a variety of teaching strategies  Continuously assess student learning by adapting teaching to student needs  Create effective scaffolds & supports  Provide clear standards, constant feedback, & opportunities for revising work  Develop & effectively manage a collaborative and interactive classroom in which all students have membership

 The following diagram depicts the cycle of effective teaching & the domains assessed with the edTPA and the core constructs within each domain. Central to every consideration is the key question,  “How to have a positive impact on student learning?”

Copyright © 2012 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. edTPA handbooks are authored by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE) with editorial and design assistance from Pearson.

What does all of this mean for you?  If you are planning to student teach in the Fall of 2015 OR later...  You will be required to complete the edTPA Performance Assessment.  To help prepare you for this important Performance Assessment you will be enrolled in a series of online courses specifically designed to allow you to become familiar with and practice the various edTPA tasks.

 Each Program (Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, & Special Education) will offer edTPA courses that have been customized to fit the edTPA tasks for their respective Program. Generally, each set of courses will cover:  An introduction to the edTPA  Task 1 – Planning for Instruction & Assessment  Task 2 – Instructing & Engaging Students  Task 3 – Assessing Students’ Learning  Elementary Education teacher candidates will have one additional task.

 You will be contacted by your Program Chair with specific information related to enrolling in the online courses designed to support you in preparing for the edTPA.  These online courses will be ‘zero’ credit and will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis.  Each edTPA course will be delivered completely online via CANVAS.

Program Chairs  Early Childhood  Dr. Anne George – or  Elementary Education  Dr. Maureen Spelman – or  Secondary Education  Dr. Eileen Quinn Knight – or  Special Education  Dr. Meg Carroll – or