Chapter 3: Faculty Investment in Student Success: A Four-Year Investigation of edTPA Implementation

Despite increased scrutiny of how teacher education programs judge the quality of their graduates, relatively little is known about the steps that lead up to the development of robust assessment systems. Federal and state teacher education reform agendas increasingly require a type of nimbleness paired with an accountability structure for which teacher-education programs are not well prepared. Changing anything in higher education is no mean feat; rapid change is nearly impossible.

In an effort to gain a nuanced understanding of how assessment can drive change, we, as school of education (SOE) leaders (the dean and associate dean together with the educational technology coordinator, director of field experiences and professional development network, and academic assessment coordinator) provided opportunities for faculty engagement related to this issue. Beginning in Fall 2012, we conducted a longitudinal study that documented the process of implementing the teacher performance assessment known as edTPA®, in the SOE at Lehman College. Our students come from heterogeneous ethnic, racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Many are from immigrant families, have acquired English as a second language, and are first-generation college students. Add to the mix that our students often fare poorly on standardized exams and could be negatively impacted if we failed to develop a clear, efficient strategy that would yield positive outcomes. So, when New York State introduced new certification requirements during one academic year to be enacted within the next year, we had to move quickly to redesign curricula in order to prepare candidates for the edTPA.