Performance Assessments in Teacher Preparation: What Do These Assessments Mean for Practice?

• In Event: Reforming Teacher Preparation and Accreditation: The Importance of Research-Based Evaluation of Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
The objective of this session is to raise questions about how high-stakes performance assessments will impact the pedagogical spaces of teacher education.
Theoretical Framework
Teacher preparation has been and is often framed as a troubled enterprise. Several nationally noted policy reports have highlighted the fragmented nature of teacher education in the United States, and have made calls for better data systems to measure program effectiveness. (e.g., Center for American Progress, Crowe, 2010, 2011; Council of Chief State School Officers, 2012; United States Department of Education, 2011). For example, in September 2011, the Obama Administration issued a report arguing that “while there are shining examples of strong programs throughout the country, too many of our teacher preparation programs fall short” (p. 5). Given the systematic restructuring of teacher accountability systems required by federally funded initiatives such as Race to the Top, it is little surprise that states across the country have embarked on projects that will significantly redesign the policies surrounding program approval, licensure, induction, etc.
In response to these critiques, AACTE has sponsored national implementation of the edTPA – a performance assessment that was designed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE). As such, most states are moving forward with implementation of the edTPA or an edTPA-like instrument. In this session two program coordinators—one from Georgia and the other from Missouri—will discuss how their programs are preparing not only for the changes required by a high-stakes performance assessment, but also what kinds of changes were and are deemed necessary because of the increased state scrutiny of teacher preparation. In particular, this session will feature a conversation regarding the following key issues confronted as two programs faced high-stakes performance implementation:

• The logistics of the student teaching experience.

• The curriculum of teacher education.

• The accountability of teacher education.

• Questions about teacher quality and developing a set of identifiable characteristics of effective teachers.

Our poster will focus on the questions outlined in this proposal. Furthermore, we will highlight relevant issues associated with edTPA implementation.

Methods of Inquiry
Although this piece is largely conceptual in nature, the authors used self-study methods (e.g., LaBoskey, 2007; Loughran, 2005, 2006) to analyze edTPA and edTPA-like implementation in his program. Specifically, the authors employed a critical friend (Costa & Kallick, 1993; Schuck & Russell, 2005) approach to exploring how thy dealt with the way the edTPA or edTPA-like instruments would impact their teacher education programs.

Significance
Given that the performance assessment movement in teacher education is coming at a time of increased governmental oversight about the effectiveness of teacher education, a conversation about how to implement performance assessments and their curricular impacts is critical to the profession. Specifically, this poster session will address questions about the nature of teacher education practice in a high stakes environment.

Authors

• Joseph Randolph Nichols, Saint Louis University

• Alexander Cuenca, Saint Louis University