The university supervisor, edTPA, and the new making of the teacher

Abstract

As university supervisors at a large, urban university in the southern US, we examined the ways that the Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) shaped the pedagogic relationships and decision-making processes of our students and ourselves during the spring of 2016. We situated this study of edTPA within the framework of critical policy scholarship (Grace, 1984, cited in Lipman, 2010) by reviewing the role of tests in licensing teachers in the context of the perpetual reform of U.S. education. We drew upon Biesta’s (2009) notion that neoliberal accountability trades democratic relationships for consumer relationships and Attick and Boyles’ (2016) argument that edTPA resituated student teaching as a marketplace activity. Applying self-study methodology (Samaras & Freese, 2009), we documented our experiences of supervising preservice teachers as they underwent the edTPA submission process. We found the assessment strongly controlled our relationships with our candidates. As supervisors, we became part of our candidates’ transaction towards certification. Likewise, our candidates viewed us as arbitrators who could help them align themselves and their work to edTPA’s specifications. Nevertheless we found moments that superceded the control of edTPA. We conclude with recommendations that teacher education programs attend closely to their social justice missions and develop new critical pedagogies in the face of the pressure of edTPA.

A High Score for the Unified State Examination for an Applicant – A “Quality” Graduate for the Educational System in the Future?

“…Certain aspects of the model developed in the study update scientific guidelines for improving the quality of the formation of the future teacher in the system of not only general, but also additional education (Desimone, 2009;Pavlenko et al, 2019;Tzivinikou, 2015). The contradictions revealed in the study in the system of formation of students of various blocks of competencies from general cultural to professional and the organization of student practice in various areas of the education system, according to the authors (Donovan, Cannon, 2018;Leguey et al, 2018;Perevoshchikova et al, 2019), prove the need for further adjustment of the educational process.…”

“…In this area, there is a significant amount of scientific work revealing the various facets of this process (Desimone, 2009;Saquicuyaet al, 2019). Scientists are invited to consider the phenomenon of assessing the quality of education of a teacher from three main points of view: the individual, state authorities and society (Donovan, Cannon, 2018;Ojeda, 2019;Ryabova, 2004).…”

State-wide implementation of edTPA in preparation for high-stakes testing: A mixed-methods study of the concerns of edTPA coordinators

“…A performance-based assessment created by teacher educators, edTPA, has been embraced by education reformers and teacher educators who aim to professionalize teaching (Sloan, 2015;SCALE, 2017). Such assessments have, however, been criticized by those who propose critical pedagogy, who object to the privatization of public educational services (Attick & Boyles, 2018), and who advocate for faculty autonomy in teacher preparation (Donovan & Cannon, 2018;Henning et al, 2018;Sato, 2014).…”

“…al, 2018;Lit & Lotan, 2013;Meuwissen & Choppin, 2015). Others have argued that any standardized assessment increases opportunities for privatization of education and discounts the local context, a particular concern for programs which prepare candidates for urban settings (Donovan & Cannon, 2018;Dover & Schultz, 2016;Tuck & Gorlewski, 2016).…”

“…Given the national trends in adopting edTPA as a high-stakes assessment (Donovan & Cannon, 2018;Henning et al, 2018;SCALE, 2018), more information is needed to understand edTPA coordinators' concerns in varying institutional contexts. The backdrop of resistance and concerns voiced by the teacher education community about the edTPA could have intensified some edTPA coordinators own concerns about the performance assessment, as they were simultaneously trying to unpack this complex assessment and become pioneers of implementing edTPA in their respective institutions.…”