Chapter 6: A Balancing Act in The age of Edtpa: Places, Cultures, and Assessment in Middle Childhood Teacher Education

In an age of increased accountability in education, school reform and optout movements are dominating the narrative around curriculum, standardized testing, and teacher evaluation. Such reforms are not limited to K-12 education, as teacher education programs in universities across the United States face increased demands that standardized performance assessments such as edTPA be used to evaluate the level of preparedness of new teachers. Additionally, oversight by national organizations such as National Council on Teacher Quality and additional teacher assessments that vary from state to state, coupled with the expansion of alternative licensing and accelerated teacher licensure programs, has some believing that “teacher education is under attack” (Au, 2013, para. 1).