The control, content, and consequences of edTPA: World language teacher educators’ perceptions

Abstract

Implemented in almost 900 teacher education programs across 41 states and the District of Columbia, edTPA is marketed as a content‐specific, standardized portfolio assessment of beginning teacher performance. However, concerns about edTPA and its content specificity are pervasive. To that end, the researchers surveyed teacher educators with World Language (WL) edTPA experience (N = 88) to ascertain their perceptions of the assessment, including its impact on teacher candidates, teacher education programs, and clinical placements as well as the resources required, support experienced, and consequences perceived as a result of its implementation. Using a framework of teacher education accountability, the researchers explored issues of control, content, and consequences related to power relationships and the WL edTPA, centering on the assessment s intended content specificity, while recounting an ACTFL task force s efforts in 2016 to influence the assessment s content.