Passedtpa Overview of Edtpa

Welcome to PassedTPA -- Overview. I'm your online instructional host, David W. Denton Let's begin by defining edTPA. According to it's authors, it is a subject area-specific, performance-based assessment for pre-service teacher candidates, centered on student learning. I know what you're thinking: that's a lot of hyphens, and you're right. Just a quick historical note: TPA was developed by a Consortium of California Universities beginning in the late 90s -- it was called Performance Assessment of California Teachers or PACT and it's still used today. Although edTPA was designed by a Consortium of California Schools, it's administrative office is at SCALE, which stands for Stanford Center for Assessment Learning, and Equity. The assessment is owned by SCALE, but the actual implementation and scoring is handled by Pearson Inc. Let's break it down. edTPA is a performance assessment, assembled into a portfolio. It has three tasks. The first task is planning, followed by instruction, and then assessment. Each task requires its own commentary pages. Each task has its own form of evidence. For task 1, the evidence includes 3 to 5 lessons. For task 2, the evidence is 15 or 20 minutes of classroom video. For task 3 the evidence consists of student work samples. All portfolios require three student work samples, except those endorsing in special education, you only need one student work sample. I like to think of the basic requirements of edTPA with this image. It has 3 lessons, though it could include up to 5. Before the lesson sequence, I strongly recommend you deploy some kind of preassessment . At the end of the end of the sequence, you would deploy a postassessment. The postassessment could also be used as your work sample. I suggest three lessons instead of five, since I don't believe there is an advantage to having four or five lessons. What does the portfolio look like when it's done? Well, it's essentially a folder full of digital files. It includes Commentary for Task 1, 2, and 3. It includes lesson plans (and the instructional materials that go along with the lessons), assessments, work samples, and video clips. Your portfolio is submitted to Pearson Inc. for scoring. You create a profile using Pearson's website, upload your digital files, using the kind of dashboard seen on this slide, then you pay a fee to have the portfolio scored. You can upload all of the parts at once and submit them on the same day, or you can upload parts over time, and submit the entire portfolio later. Your portfolio is scored by someone who has taught your subject. They spend about an hour per task, reading, watching, and comparing your commentary and evidence to rubrics. Scores are received back 2-4 weeks after submission. They earn $75 for each scored portfolio. There are 18 rubrics applied to a portfolio. Five specific rubrics are applied to each task, but 3 rubrics are applied across all three tasks. Here is a sample rubric. It's not one of the rubrics applied to your portfolio, but it will serve nicely as an example. Rubrics have five levels. When you read the rubrics, begin by thinking about level 3, and strive for level 4. Level 5 is hard to achieve, but certainly not impossible. Watch out, there are some confusing parts to edTPA. First, handbooks are 50 plus pages. This means you will need to read your handbook more than once. Begin by reading one task at a time. Reread tasks to clarify your thinking. There are also some ambiguous terms sprinkled throughout your handbook. Use the glossary in the back of your handbook to understand these terms. There are 18 rubrics and this is too many to suspend in your head as you plan, teach, and assess students -- so begin by considering level 3, and strive for level 4 to focus your efforts. Another challenge is knowing how to plan your lesson sequence. One strategy I suggest is to examine rubrics for Task 2. Rubrics for Task 2 provide descriptions of the kinds of activities your students are expected to engage in. Similar to the handbook overall, you will need to read Task 2 rubrics more than once to understand the kind of lessons you should plan, and activities you should show on video. Pause this presentation and examine rubrics for Task 2 right now. Think about the rubrics and the kind of lessons you should plan. Welcome back. Let's summarize a few problematic approaches to edTPA. This is not the time to try out untested instructional practices. Use those that are effective, and that you are familiar with. Do not write your lessons and assessment from scratch. EdTPA is not a test of your ability to create curricula. Do not use hunches or feelings for deciding your next steps; use assessment data. This is not a test, but a performance assessment and your mentor can help. One way to get help form your mentor is by asking questions, sharing lessons, and the like. Poorly authored learning targets or targets misaligned with your assessments can cause significant problems across the portfolio, so pay special attention to this part of your planning. Here are a few resources and strategies you can use for assembling your portfolio. As mentioned previously, your mentor teacher can help. Use premade and practiced lessons, available activities, assessments -- again, don't begin from scratch. Use one lesson for showing the entire video clip or clips. Your video does not need to include the whole class, several students is enough. You only have to analyze work samples from three students, or one if you are endorsing in special education. Apply extensive feedback to the work samples. Extensive feedback is not required for the whole class. Think of your portfolio lesson sequence as a mini-unit so that you include all of the most useful parts, like pre- and postassessment, and student reflections. Timing is critical in assembling your edTPA portfolio. Secure high-quality evidence -- this is your first priority. Evidence includes lesson plans, videos, and student work samples. Once you have the evidence, and its high-quality, then you can take time in the evenings, weekends, holiday breaks to write the Commentary. If you try writing Commentary with low-quality evidence, you will spend a lot more time and probably end up with a poor score in the end. Let's finish with a round of edTPA Vocabulary Preview. This is just a chance to preview some of the ambiguous terms associated with edTPA as you begin reading and rereading your handbook. Be sure to consult your edTPA handbook glossary when you come across confusing terms. And, don't be surprised if you need to reread your handbook to make sense of the assessment overall. Finally, your handbook uses the word Tool. This means specific instructional practice or strategy.