Does Distance Matter? Preparing and Supporting Elementary Preservice Teachers Abroad for edTPA

• In Event: Implementing the edTPA—a National Performance-Based Assessment: Research on Concerns, Implications, and Impact

Abstract

Purpose
• To present benefits and challenges of completing edTPA while abroad from the perspectives of students, supervisors and collaborating teachers.
• To discuss what supports, if any, are needed for completing edTPA while abroad and prior in an education program.

Perspectives/Framework
Research and literature has guided and informed the development of edPTA (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity, 2013). A candidate must ensure that they know all learners in their classrooms. As Banks asserted, “All classrooms are culturally diverse, and we need to uncover that diversity (p.6). Banks (1998) developed The Five Dimensions of Multicultural Education and included the term, equity pedagogy, as the third dimension. In this dimension, teachers change their instruction and methods to support students from diverse groups in order for them to achieve.

Methods and Data Sources
In the current study, candidates will be of a different background/culture from that of their students. This begs the question, will that inhibit their ability to teach them? Research from Ladson-Billings (2009) also found that it wasn’t a teacher’s race, but a set of characteristics that made them effective. She found that teachers who knew the culture of the students, their daily lives, and could relate to them were most effective (Ladson-Billings, 2009). Candidates will reflect on becoming familiar with the culture of their students in their weekly journal reflections.
Data sources for this study include; pre-and post-surveys, weekly journal reflections, edTPA scores, and interviews with the teacher candidates. Additionally interviews will be conducted with the collaborating teachers and supervisors. All interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed, and coded using Descriptive Coding (Saldana, 2012). Categories will then be generated to analyze the data. In order to establish validity, member checking will occur throughout the inquiry process.

Results
Preliminary working hypotheses are that candidates abroad need technology support due to the fact that different countries have varying connectivity, equipment, and speed. Some candidates may not pass edTPA, so interventions from abroad need to be presented and discussed.

Significance
Conclusions from this study recommend that candidates have the opportunity to study abroad within education programs. Study abroad has been shown to provide preservice teachers with an appreciation and openness of diversity, increased empathy for linguistically diverse learners, and help them develop a global teaching perspective (DeVillar & Jiang, 2012; McGaha & Linder, 2012). If institutions are not able to having candidates travel during the edTPA semester, a possible recommendation would be to offer study abroad during another time.
This study is significant in that there is a need for developing culturally responsive teachers and studying abroad provides one opportunity for candidates to develop their own cultural identities. There is concern as to whether or not candidates can successfully complete and pass edTPA while student teaching abroad, so this study will also add to the limited literature on the topic.

Author

• Stacy Delacruz, Kennesaw State University