Using edTPA Data to Improve Programs

Abstract

This chapter will share a model for teacher preparation programs to consider when attempting program improvement through the use of edTPA data. This model, regardless of the edTPA context, mandated or voluntary, provides a frame in which teacher education programs can begin using edTPA data for program improvement and can advance their data use towards transformative, institutional improvements. This additive model takes time, commitment, and vision in order to systematically create programmatic improvements. Performance assessment data provides the structure and information needed for units and programs to make these purposeful changes. The increasingly explicit culture of assessment in teacher education, in conjunction with the promise of valid and reliable performance assessments, invites teacher education programs to engage in third spaces with renewed focus.

A Framework for Improvement: Analyzing Performance-Assessment Scores for Evidence-Based Teacher Preparation Program Reforms

“…Research linking aspects of teacher preparation to the performance of program graduates is growing rapidly (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2009; Henry & Bastian, 2015; Henry et al, 2013; Preston, 2017; Ronfeldt, 2015; Ronfeldt & Reininger, 2012); however, there has been little focus on how TPPs respond to and use such research evidence. While some teacher educators document their data use to drive evidence-based improvements (Cuthrell, Lys, Fogarty, & Dobson, 2016), many TPPs suffer from either a lack of “actionable data” (Ledwell & Oyler, 2016) or a lack of assessment literacy among teacher education faculty (Diez, 2010). To help build this literacy, teacher education communities need common ground on which to build a community of practice and learning (Grossman et al, 2001).…”

“…We assert that evidence-based change will not occur without these key ingredients and a will to change. Multiple TPPs have demonstrated the value of “putting the data on the table” for faculty examination to build a culture of inquiry within the learning community (Cuthrell et al, 2016; Peck & McDonald, 2013; Sloan, 2013). In these TPPs, leadership played a key role in developing faculty engagement opportunities by institutionalizing performance data exploration and allowing faculty to lead reforms to curricula and clinical practice.…”