edTPA During Student Teaching: PETE Teacher Candidates’ Experiences and Future Support

2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Leng Goh ◽  
Jan Bishop ◽  
Carol Ciotto

Many physical education teacher education programs require teacher candidates to successfully complete edTPA during student teaching. Considering that research remains sparse regarding best practices in edTPA, the purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of teacher candidates completing edTPA during student teaching and of university supervisors supervising teacher candidates during the process. Twenty-four teacher candidates and 11 university supervisors participated in a focus group discussion for approximately 1 hr. Data were analyzed and categorized as (1) negative experiences, (2) positive experiences, and (3) future support. Overall, the teacher candidates felt that completing edTPA diminished their student teaching experience, as it was tedious and time-consuming pertaining to technological difficulties in videotaping, video processing, and video uploading. Nonetheless, the participants felt that completing edTPA was valuable in providing teacher candidates with detailed feedback to improve on their pedagogical skills. Future support for teacher candidates includes integrating edTPA early in their curriculum of study to better prepare them to successfully complete edTPA during student teaching. The university supervisors felt that with more in-depth training in edTPA and experience supervising teacher candidates on edTPA, they would be more competent in the future. Subscribe to TPE

1987 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Zeichner ◽  
Daniel Liston

Conventional teacher education programs follow an apprenticeship model and, in so doing,aspire to provide student teachers with pedagogical skills and techniques derived from a preexisting body of knowledge. In this contribution to HER's special series, "Teachers, Teaching,and Teacher Education," Kenneth M. Zeichner and Daniel P. Liston argue that the conventional approach inhibits the self-directed growth of student teachers and thereby fails to promote their full professional development. Illustrating an alternative model, the authors describe and assess the elementary student teaching program at the University of Wisconsin,Madison — a program oriented toward the goals of reflective teaching, greater teacher autonomy,and increasing democratic participation in systems of educational governance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Dia Gary ◽  
Dylan Thomas ◽  
Joseph Miller

Equipping new teachers in today’s society is a noble and challenging task. Of late, many additional licensing standards for teachers create additional responsibilities for universities that provide pedagogy, knowledge, and content for teacher candidates. Identification of best practices that support teacher candidates on the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) is of interest to many teacher education programs. The purpose of this research was to analyze whether incorporating a mock edTPA had beneficial results on the passage of the edTPA. This study spanned fourteen ten-week quarters and included 688 teacher candidates who were preparing to become certificated teachers at a university in Washington State. The questions that were posited were: a) Does a capstone class requiring a mock edTPA benefit students? b) Which edTPA rubrics are the most challenging, and why are they challenging? This research study found that adding a mock edTPA prior to the student teaching experience did not produce a statistically significant difference in scores when compared to the group who received an embedded curriculum. When comparing the two different time periods, the passing rate was not significantly different and there was little difference in the mean scores of both groups.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian Ardley ◽  
Jacqueline Johnson

Video recordings for student teaching field experiences have been utilized with student teachers (also known as teacher candidates) to (a) capture the demonstration of their lesson plans, (b) critique their abilities within the performance, and (c) share and rate experiences for internal and external evaluations by the state and other organizations. Many times, the recording, saving, grading, and sharing process was not efficient. Thus, the feedback cycle from the university supervisor to the teacher candidate was negatively impacted. However, one communication technology tool that has the potential to facilitate the feedback process is video annotation software. This communication technology uses the storage within a remote server, known also as a cloud, to store videos that include typed commentary that is in sync with the portion of the video recorded. A group of university supervisors piloted a video annotation tool during student teaching to rate its effectiveness. Through a survey, the participants addressed how they perceived the implementation of the video annotation tool within the student teaching experience. Results suggest a video annotated technology-based supervision method is feasible and effective if paired with effective training and technical support.


2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandy Lynch ◽  
Jennifer Krause ◽  
Scott Douglas

One of the most important stages in preservice teacher training is the student teaching experience. The university supervisor (US) plays an integral role in this developmental stage by maintaining a connection between the cooperating teacher, student teacher (ST), and the university. While the traditional method of observing STs has been found to be effective, universities are seeking alternative means of conducting teaching observations that alleviate time, distance, and financial constraints. One such option is virtual observation through video chat programs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine STs’ perceptions of the effectiveness and feasibility of virtual observation versus traditional observation in physical education teacher education (PETE). Results showed STs prefer virtual observation with a PE content expert over traditional visits if the US did not have PE content expertise. STs noted technological challenges such as Wi-Fi connectivity and environmental distraction with virtual observation. Benefits of virtual observation include increased ability to hear STs’ interactions with students, improved feedback potential, less travel time, and financial savings. Results of this study suggest that while traditional on-site observation visits are preferred and ideal, virtual observation is a viable alternative when technological challenges are appropriately addressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
Gregory Rich ◽  
Linda Gray Smith ◽  
Kristi Alexander

This research essay examined a growing trend in a rural area of the Midwest where PK–12 school districts are partnering with a local university to hire teacher candidates (TCs) as the Teachers of Record (TORs). Many rural school districts are challenged to address the teacher shortage. As a result, many school districts are hiring TCs as the TOR during the TC’s student-teaching experience. Due to the limited research on the topic, this paper aimed to determine if appointing the TC as the TOR was an effective practice. We used three data sources to gauge the perceptions of the TC, the TC’s mentor, and the TC’s administrator. Meeting the needs of partnering districts and providing quality placements for TCs engaged in the culminating field experience can be mutually beneficial for teacher candidates, the school district, and the university.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca McMahon Giles ◽  
Andrea M. Kent

A quantitative, descriptive research model was used to investigate the perceptions of teacher candidates (n=32) in a clinically based dual certification program regarding their culminating student teaching experience. Data consisted of candidates’ responses to both multiple choice and open ended survey items. Results indicated that teacher candidates within an undergraduate program leading to state teaching certification in both elementary and collaborative teaching (K-6) had positive perceptions regarding their preparedness as a result of prior experiences working in K-6 classrooms (44%) and interactions with in-service teachers (28%). In addition, teacher candidates perceived strong relationships with their university supervisors reporting that they received a greater amount of encouragement and feedback for improved teaching from their university supervisors than from their cooperating teachers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Murley ◽  
Rebecca R Stobaugh ◽  
Charles S Evans

With national and state regulatory changes related to clinical practice within teacher education programs a reality, one university examined the outcomes of co-teaching model trainings required for stakeholders, both higher education faculty and P-12 educators. The training participants indicated the co-teaching model could increase student teacher preparedness while also positively impacting P-12 student learning. Nearly a year after the co-teaching training, one university surveyed student teachers on their co-teaching experience prior to and during student teaching. While there were increase mean scores of all the co-teaching models, results pointed to questions of whether teacher candidates were engaged in lower-level impact co-teaching models, which involved teacher candidates observing and assisting.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha K. Donovan ◽  
Susan Ophelia Cannon

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. e20200014
Author(s):  
Elise St. John ◽  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
John Krieg ◽  
Roddy Theobald

Emerging research finds connections between teacher candidates’ student teaching placements and their future career paths and effectiveness. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that influence these placements and how teacher education programs (TEPs) and K-12 school systems match teacher candidates to mentor teachers. In our study of this process in Washington state, we find that TEPs and K-12 systems share overarching goals related to successful student teacher placements and developing a highly effective teacher workforce. However, distinct accountabilities and day-to-day demands also sometimes lead them to prioritize other objectives. In addition, we identified informational asymmetries, which left TEPs questioning how mentor teachers were selected, and districts and schools with limited information with which to make intentional matches between teacher candidates and mentor teachers. The findings from this study inform both practice and research in teacher education and human resources. First, they illuminate practices that appear to contribute to informational gaps and institutional disadvantages in the placement of student teachers. Additionally, they raise questions about what constitutes an effective mentor teacher and provide researchers and policymakers with better insight into the professional realities of teacher educators and K-12 educators, as well as those of district human resource (HR) coordinators, which is important given their differing accountabilities and distinctive positionings in the education of teacher candidates.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Anne Block ◽  
Paul Betts

Teacher candidates’ individual and collaborative inquiry occurs within multiple and layered contexts of learning. The layered contexts support a strong connection between the practicum and the university and the emergent teaching identities. Our understanding of teacher identity is as situated and socially constructed, yet fluid and agentic. This paper explores how agentic teaching identities emerge within the layered contexts of our teacher education program as examined in five narratives of teacher candidates’ experience. These narratives involve tension, inquiry, successes and risks, as teacher candidates negotiate what is means to learn how to teach, to teach and to critically reflect on knowledge needed to teach. We conclude that navigating teacher identity is a teacher candidate capacity that could be explicitly cultivated by teacher education programs.


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