“It took my knowledge to the limits”: The edTPA teacher performance assessment and its implications for TESOL (original) (raw)

Teacher performance assessments have the potential to act as a powerful, authentic learning and assessment tool for teacher education programs and teacher candidates. However, in a climate of increased accountability and standardization, high-stakes performance assessments can take on a larger-than-intended role in teacher education. This study examined the experiences of a cohort of pre-service teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages as they navigated the completion of the edTPA teaching portfolio, which had recently been adopted by their teacher education program to satisfy a teacher licensure requirement. The edTPA, developed by Pearson, Inc. and the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity, consists of a candidate’s lesson plans, video-recordings of teaching, assessments, and reflections, which are then scored locally or by Pearson. Teacher candidates were interview to uncover their perceptions of the challenges and benefits of the edTPA as well as the wa...