Understanding Faculty Concerns and the Change Process Resulting From Adoption of a High-Stakes Performance Assessment

• In Event: 18.037 - Examinations of Faculty Motivation and Engagement Within Current Sociopolitical Contexts for Teacher Education Reform

Abstract

Objectives
To develop and establish reliability for a Levels of Integration (LoI) survey for measuring faculty’s implementation of initiatives to prepare candidates to pass a mandated performance assessment (edTPA).
To examine faculty’s Stages of Concern (SoC) and investigate how faculty’s SoC related with their integration of edTPA related activities (LoI).

Theoretical Framework
Many states, including the state of Georgia, have moved towards the use of edTPA as a certification requirement for teacher candidates. All teacher education programs in Georgia implemented edTPA in their programs in 2014-2015, in preparation for the consequential use of edTPA for certification, beginning fall 2015.
The concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) provides a theoretical lens for understanding how concerns of policy implementers can impact the success or failure of an educational innovation (Kapustka & Damore, 2009). The CBAM model posits that the concerns of adopters of an innovation can be related to the degree to which those adopters are involved in implementing that innovation (Hall & Hord, 2010; Overbaugh& Lu, 2008).
Method and Data Sources
We developed a survey for determining edTPA LoI, based on the CBAM Levels of Use of an innovation construct (Hall, Dirksen, & George, 2006). In spring 2015, an edTPA LoI survey was distributed to 453 edTPA faculty across our state. We conducted exploratory factor analysis, using 145 responses, which yielded 5 factors that can be used as valid constructs to understand edTPA implementation. These respondents were then sent the Stages of Concern (SoC) survey (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2006) to understand concerns related to edTPA implementation and also to see if size of institution and roles played by faculty (methods instructor and/or supervisor) in an institution were related to SoC or the LoI (N=78).
Results
Results for the LoI survey showed that the integration of edTPA was significantly higher at the program level than in faculty’s personal practice and that most aspects of edTPA were currently being used at the mechanical level (Table 2). The SoC survey showed that the majority of the faculty were at the unconcerned stage (42%), showing little concern about edTPA implementation. Collaboration was the second most frequent SoC, indicating a need for collaborating with others to implement the innovation (Table 3). We found a significant, positive correlation between the faculty SoC and the factor on analyzing local and national edTPA scores, r(56)=.31,p<.05.
Significance
CBAM theorizes that stages of faculty concern may directly impact the degree to which an innovation gets used in their practice, determining the success of policy implementation. In our study, faculty integration of edTPA at the mechanical level, coupled by an unconcerned stage of concern made edTPA use across institutions similar. During the implementation year, local and national evaluation of edTPA portfolios, seemed to be the areas where faculty were concentrating their implementation efforts. Having the experience of collaborating with others in their institution and across the state was an important aspect of understanding the expectations of edTPA, which would help faculty move up, along the SoC continuum.

Authors

• Ruchi Bhatnagar, Georgia State University

• Jihye Kim, Kennesaw State University

• Joyce E. Many, Georgia State University

• Tamra W. Ogletree, The University of West Georgia

• Shaneeka Favors-Welch, Georgia State University

• Clarice Thomas, Georgia State University

• Morgin Jones Williams, Georgia State University

• Carla Lynn Tanguay, Georgia State University

• Karen Kurz, Berry College

• Judi Wilson, Augusta University

• Mary Ariail, Georgia State University