Susan A. Hildebrandt - Böcker

Teacher effectiveness and licensure in the United States continue to be scrutinized at the state and national levels. At present, 40 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted edTPA to inform initial teacher licensure and/or certification decisions (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, n.d.). edTPA is designed to measure novice teachers’ readiness to teach their content area, with a focus on student learning and principles from research and theory (SCALE, 2015). Composed of planning, instruction, and assessment tasks, edTPA portfolios seek to provide evidence of teacher candidate readiness in three areas: (1) intended teaching, (2) enacted teaching, and (3) the impact of teaching on student learning. Specifically, edTPA measures teacher candidates’ ability to:• develop knowledge of subject matter, content standards, and subject-specific pedagogy• develop and apply knowledge of varied students’ needs• consider research and theory about how students learn• reflect on and analyze evidence of the effects of instruction on student learning (p. 1)Teacher candidates create extensive portfolios that include written commentaries explaining each task and video excerpts of a recorded teaching event. Teacher candidates must submit evidence to show their teaching prowess and pay $300, at present, to Pearson Education for their portfolio to be evaluated by external reviewers.In this volume, researchers share their experiences working with edTPA in three areas of language learning: English Language Arts, English to Speakers of Other Languages, and World Languages. The volume provides empirical research in the areas of multicultural perspectives, pedagogical practices, and edTPA (in)compatibility. Findings are of interest to multiple stakeholders such as teacher candidates, mentor teachers, teacher preparation faculty members and program coordinators, and administrators.

Teacher effectiveness and licensure in the United States continue to be scrutinized at the state and national levels. At present, 40 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted edTPA to inform initial teacher licensure and/or certification decisions (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, n.d.). edTPA is designed to measure novice teachers’ readiness to teach their content area, with a focus on student learning and principles from research and theory (SCALE, 2015). Composed of planning, instruction, and assessment tasks, edTPA portfolios seek to provide evidence of teacher candidate readiness in three areas: (1) intended teaching, (2) enacted teaching, and (3) the impact of teaching on student learning. Specifically, edTPA measures teacher candidates’ ability to:• develop knowledge of subject matter, content standards, and subject-specific pedagogy• develop and apply knowledge of varied students’ needs• consider research and theory about how students learn• reflect on and analyze evidence of the effects of instruction on student learning (p. 1)Teacher candidates create extensive portfolios that include written commentaries explaining each task and video excerpts of a recorded teaching event. Teacher candidates must submit evidence to show their teaching prowess and pay $300, at present, to Pearson Education for their portfolio to be evaluated by external reviewers.In this volume, researchers share their experiences working with edTPA in three areas of language learning: English Language Arts, English to Speakers of Other Languages, and World Languages. The volume provides empirical research in the areas of multicultural perspectives, pedagogical practices, and edTPA (in)compatibility. Findings are of interest to multiple stakeholders such as teacher candidates, mentor teachers, teacher preparation faculty members and program coordinators, and administrators.

In Understanding the World Language edTPA: Research-Based Policy and Practice, two researchers in the forefront of world language edTPA discuss the new beginning teacher portfolio, including its required elements, federal and state policies concerning teacher evaluation, and research from their own programs. Higher education faculty members and language teacher preparation program coordinators who would like to better understand edTPA requirements and gain suggestions for necessary programmatic changes will find this book of interest.The book is composed of eight chapters. The authors begin by describing edTPA and how it became a national trend to assess beginning teacher ability. In Chapter 2, the authors present ideas about curricular changes that may need to occur in traditional world language teacher education programs, as well as suggestions to assist teacher candidates as they begin to develop their portfolios. Afterward, the authors discuss the context for learning (Chapter 3) and they begin with assessment, moving to planning, and then to instruction (Chapters 4, 5, 6). In each chapter, the authors discuss the work sample that teacher candidates must create, an analysis of a high-scoring portfolio, and steps to stimulate teacher candidates’ professional thinking. In Chapter 7, the authors present activities for the methods classroom. In the final chapter, the authors provide a critical analysis of edTPA, in general, and the world language edTPA, in particular.Understanding the World Language edTPA: Research-Based Policy and Practice provides readers with a much-needed guide to inducting teacher candidates into the new portfolio requirements, while helping higher education faculty make appropriate curricular changes to accommodate edTPA.