Engaging Faculty in Examining the Validity of Locally Developed Performance-Based Assessments

Locally developed performance-based assessment instruments must provide evidence of validity and reliability supporting their intended interpretation and use. Accrediting bodies, such as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), require Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) to provide this evidence in their accreditation self-study. However, faculty may not have the expertise to conduct an effective examination of their assessments. This chapter describes a process for gathering evidence to build a validity argument for locally developed performance-based assessments. Grounded in measurement theory, the Validity Inquiry Process (VIP) guides faculty through a reflective practice approach towards making defensible claims about the use of results from locally developed performance-based assessments. Using this process, faculty can have greater confidence in using their performance-based assessments to provide feedback to their students, as well as offer assurances of program quality or to identify areas for improvement.

Examining edTPA's Educative Nature and Its Alignment to Standards of Effective Teaching

This chapter advances the idea that completing the edTPA project is an educative experience that has potential to support teachers' development of high-leverage instructional practices. An inductive analysis of teacher candidates' reflections about completing the practice edTPA indicated that teacher candidates found value in some aspects of the project, such as planning, examining their video, and assessing students' work, but many of the participants perceived that the writing of the commentaries was not relevant. The chapter also describes a strategy called edPASR, which support teacher candidates through the edTPA process as an educative experience based in performance assessment. The chapter examines vignettes of teacher candidates experiences with the edTPA portfolio and concludes with a discussion of the relationship between edTPA and the day-to-day practice of teaching.

Guiding Online Graduate Special Education Candidates Through E-Performance Assessments and edTPA

As online teacher preparation programs continue to grow, guiding the process for edTPA candidates can pose varying challenges. As such, teacher preparation programs must be equipped to provide guidance to online candidates as they complete the actionable items required for edTPA. Provided from the field supervisors' perspective, this chapter outlines the current process Western Carolina University has in place to provide effective clinical and teacher candidate experiences for students in their online program. The purpose of this chapter provides guided structure for graduate special education teachers pursing initial licensure through an online masters' program. This chapter will include 1) the challenges of guiding online students through the e-portfolio process, 2) an exploration of the provided structure for the teacher candidates to fulfill the requirements of edTPA, as well as 3) recommendations for teacher preparation programs and teacher candidate readiness in the practice and application of e-performance assessments and edTPA.

Constellations of edTPA Data Use

As more educator preparation programs (EPPs) adopt edTPA as a teacher candidate performance assessment in their programs, a new set of robust and informational data emerges. As an educative assessment, performance assessment data can be used by EPPs in multiple ways. This chapter identifies five constellations of edTPA data use: teacher candidate readiness, curriculum revision, program assessment and accreditation, predictive validity, and continuous program improvement. Each constellation is rooted in both practice and research and provides strategies for how EPPs may leverage edTPA for multiple purposes within their programs.

Using Performance-Based Assessments as Part of Quality Assurance System for Program Improvement

As the use of performance-based assessments continues to spread nationally, teacher preparation programs must negotiate the role of these assessments and their data as part of their quality assurance systems. This chapter will explore how one educator preparation program leveraged local and national performance-based assessments to build the foundation of their quality assurance system. Further, discussion will illustrate how they engaged in a cycle of continuous improvement based on teacher candidate outcomes.

Introducing Performance-Based Assessment in Pre-Service Teacher Education in India

The teachers in India are usually trained and assessed by age old practices and approaches. Following a simple definition that performance-based assessment measures teachers' ability to apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit or units of study, it can be argued that introducing and applying this practice in teacher preparation programs will be helpful to emphasize, measure, and support the skills and knowledge that all teachers need to succeed in the real classrooms. This chapter that is guided by these observations and arguments details teacher education scenario, discusses existing assessment policies and practices in teacher education, advocates the need and promises offered by introducing performance-based assessment for pre-service teachers, highlights the challenges of introducing performance-based assessment, and presents some useful strategies to introduce, practice, and popularize the performance-based assessment in pre-service teacher education in the context of India.

Ready to Lead

This chapter shares the way in which one principal preparation program builds and assesses leadership capacity through the use of a tool called Core Competencies for School Leaders or CCSL. The CCSL tool views competencies as actionable behaviors that can be observed and measured in both quantitative and/or qualitative ways. Competencies cross several leadership domains, determined primarily by established state and national leadership standards. The CCSLs provide relevant, contextually responsive, standard-based, and research informed field experiences. The authors purport the CCSLs and the wrap-around processes of which learning is dependent (e.g., reflection, collaborative dialogue, feedback), advance awareness, and capacity across leadership domains. Competencies serve to both build and evaluate leadership capacity. In conjunction with other research informed practices for leadership preparation, competencies can play an integral role in the development and growth of aspiring school leaders.

Candidate Success

edTPA is a rigorous teaching performance assessment that requires preservice candidates in 27 content areas to demonstrate their ability to plan, instruct, and assess. A primary consideration in these lessons is meeting the needs of diverse students, planning lessons that engage, and using assessments to inform instruction. Preservice candidates submit evidence in the form of commentaries and artifacts for each of the three tasks. This evidence includes written commentary, lesson plans, instructional materials, video clips, assessments, feedback, and reflective analysis. This chapter will provide teacher preparation programs strategies for effective candidate support that can lead to faculty engagement, program improvement, and candidate success. It is written from the perspective of a teacher preparation program that has supported thousands of candidates through the edTPA submission process and learned valuable lessons along the way.

An Organic Model for edTPA Exploration and Implementation

Teacher educators share their experiences in response to the adoption of a high-stakes policy in Georgia regarding the use of edTPA®. Their efforts followed an organic model characterized by the inclusion of three important concepts: (1) distributed leadership, (2) ongoing communication, and (3) a commitment to the evolution of responsibilities and support structures. Stories highlight the importance of collegiality, shared decision making, and clear and open communication within the institution to ensure the success of a policy imperative at the grass-roots level. Since the policy of edTPA for licensure in Georgia carried high stakes for teacher educators and teacher candidates alike, the transition period allowed faculty to engage in conversations and practices that paid attention to the policy imperative, simultaneously allowing them time to consider how to conserve the values and cultural assets of the institution.