The Effect of Faculty Professional Beliefs About the edTPA on Program Change and Student Performance

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

The edTPA Teacher Performance Assessment was introduced at a regional public university to replace previous paper-and-pencil evaluations of candidates’ teaching effectiveness. To examine teacher educators’ professional beliefs about using edTPA as a readiness-to-teach measure, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 full-time teacher educators across 11 content areas after two implementations. Qualitative results identified both positive and negative beliefs, plus positive beliefs linked to curriculum and program revisions. Quantitative analyses showed no significant association between beliefs and edTPA candidate scores.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

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Introduction

Background

The Effect of Faculty Professional Beliefs About the edTPA on Program Change and Student Performance Kathryn Davis, Ph . D . , Winthrop University Pamela D . Wash, Ph . D . , Winthrop University Abbigail Armstrong, Ed . D . , Winthrop University Crystal Glover, Ph . D . , Winthrop University Kavin Ming, Ed . D . , Winthrop University Abstract The edTPA Teacher Performance Assessment was recently implemented ata regional public university to replace the previous paper-and-pencil evaluation of candidates’ teaching effectiveness. To determine the teacher educators’ professional beliefs toward using the edTPA as an assessment of readiness to teach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 full-time teacher educators from 11 content areas after 2 full implementations ofthe edTPA. Qualitative findings consisted of themes related to both positive and negative professional beliefs toward the edTPA as an assessment instrument, as well as positive professional beliefs resulting in curriculum and program revisions. Quantitative findings regarding faculty professional beliefs affecting candidate scores on the edTPA showed no significant association. The most significant finding of this study was that faculty had more positive than negative professional beliefs toward the edTPA implementation. Keywords: edTPA, teacher performance assessment, faculty beliefs, education policy AILACTE Journal 67 Davis, Wash, Armstrong, Glover and Ming The Effect of Faculty Professional Beliefs About the edTPA on Program Change and Student Performance Introduction As the country looks to educator preparation programs (EPPs) to improve the nation’s teaching force, teacher educators must be able to objectively document candidates’ teaching effectiveness and how these candidates impact PK-12 student learning. While EPPs continue to create innovative programs to teach future teachers “state of the art” methods of delivering content to students, the concern for teacher performance has followed the national standards movement to hold educators and schools accountable for student achievement (Ledwell & Oyler, 2016). Providing extensive assessment of teacher performance and success is a natural “next step” in the process (Rink, 2013). In the past, assessments for the certification of teachers have mostly been valid and reliable paper-and-pencil tests, but they are not good indicators of practical,“hands-on” teaching performance with students (Stecher, 2010).“Advocates of performance assessment argue that the fixed set of responses in multiple-choice tests (and their cousins, true-false tests and matching texts) are inauthentic”(Stecher, 2010, pg. 2). Performance-based teaching assessments, such as the education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), provide extensive video analysis of teaching and self-reflection. As EPPs move toward an accountabilitybased model of preparing teachers, many programs are turning to performance-based assessments to evaluate their candidates. Although shifting the paradigm within EPPs to a performancebased measure is a slow response to the call by the National Research Council back in 2001 in their publication, Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment, it is evident with 41 states consisting of 906 EPPsnow implementing the edTPA that the pendulum has shifted (AACTE, 2019). Our study is located in South Carolina, which does not currently mandate the edTPA as the licensure assessment of candidates (it is currently one of three options). The voluntary shift to the edTPA by our college is somewhat of a reaction to policy 68 AILACTE Volume XVI 2019 Professional Beliefs About the edTPA implementation in our neighboring states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, all of which have adopted some level of edTPA implementation. Many of our graduates become teachers in those three states. Our college faculty made the decision to use the edTPA for candidate assessment in

FAQs

Did faculty professional beliefs significantly affect candidate edTPA scores?

No. Quantitative findings indicated no significant association between faculty professional beliefs and candidate scores on the edTPA assessment.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford