edTPA as Window of Opportunity? Preservice Teachers Utilize Performance Assessment to Teach Outside Scripted Curriculum

• In Event: The Impact of High-Stakes Evaluation Systems for Teachers and Student Teachers on the Student Teaching Experience

Abstract

This case study explored the development of preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) literacy instructional practice. While student teaching in classrooms that utilized scripted literacy curriculum, PSTs were required to complete edTPA, a Teacher Performance Assessment, in order to receive their teaching credential. Participants’ edTPA lessons represented the only time PSTs taught outside the mandated scripted curriculum in these student teaching placements. Typically, PSTs expressed a lack of agency to “stand up” against their cooperating teachers and teach without following the curriculum’s script, of which they were critical. However, the credential requirement of completing edTPA provided a window of opportunity for PSTs to eschew the scripted curriculum and practice teaching literacy in ways that were more aligned with their teacher education program’s ideals.

Author

• Kathryn Struthers, Bank Street College of Education