Chapter 2: Compliance, Affirmation, Alignment, or Learning?: Influencing the edTPA Process Through One’s Stance

This chapter presents a framework for conceptualizing edTPA. This framework includes four stances one can take toward the assessment: compliance (edTPA is a task to complete), affirmation (candidates can and will be successful with edTPA), alignment (edTPA mirrors what candidates do in coursework and fieldwork), and learning (edTPA is an opportunity to develop as a teacher through deep reflection and analysis). The authors explain the origin of the framework and provide specific definitions and examples of each stance. The learning stance is described in greatest detail, as it is the stance that enables edTPA to be a meaningful and educative experience for teacher candidates. The chapter concludes by articulating ways teacher educators can adopt a learning stance and why this stance offers an alternative to many of the critiques of edTPA.