School of Education

edTPA is an teacher candidate assessment method used to determine if a new teacher is "ready for the job." It is a process completed during pre-service experience by the teacher candidate with the guidance of their university supervisor. A review of the teacher candidates' authentic teaching material is done at the completion of the teaching and learning process. This edTPA assessment documents and demonstrates each candidate's ability to effectively teach his/her subject matter to all students.

edTPA was created by educators, for educators. Stanford University faculty and staff at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) developed edTPA. The basis for the development of edTPA was the substantive advice and feedback from teachers and teacher educators as well as from experience gained from over 25 years of developing performance-based assessments of teaching. The design and review team was comprised of more than 100 university faculty, national subject-matter organization representatives and K-12 teachers.

edTPA is a performance assessment to help determine if new teachers are ready to enter the profession with the skills necessary to help all of their students learn. It is intended to be used for teacher licensure and to support state and national program accreditation, and to support program renewal.

Evidence of a candidate's ability to teach is drawn from a segment of 3-5 lessons from a unit of instruction taught to one class of students. Materials assessed as part of the edTPA process include video clips of instruction, lesson plans, student work samples, analysis of student learning, and reflective commentaries. Based on the submitted evidence, which is reviewed by trained scorers, faculty and candidates can discuss the impact of candidates' teaching performance on student learning and determine ways to improve teaching. Faculty can analyze evidence of candidate performance to guide decision-making about program revision. State education agencies may use edTPA scores for licensure and accreditation.

For more information on edTPA please visit http://edtpa.aacte.org