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Monday, October 07, 2013

Performance tests for new teachers slow to catch on in rural states or those with many small districts

Most candidates for a teaching license are required to pass a written test, but not as many teachers have to prove the ability to perform in a classroom before being assigned a class to teach. Some states are changing that, requiring teachers to complete a performance assessment, but most states with large rural populations or many small school districts have yet to adapt to the changes, Adrienne Lu reports for Stateline.

Assessments such as edTPA, which was launched last month, "requires teaching candidates to submit lesson plans, videos of them teaching real students, examples of their students’ work and their own reflections on how they might improve. Trained third-party scorers examine the portfolios."

Jennifer Wallace, executive director of the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board, told Lu, "It really reinforces the practices we want to see in our new teachers. We’re asking them to reflect on their students, their students’ learning, to adjust their instruction and practice accordingly, and this plays a really important role in that.” Andrea Whittaker, director of teacher performance assessment at Stanford University, which helped develop edTPA, told Lu that if more than one state uses the same assessment teachers will be able to show employers in other states that they are qualified, and teachers can also benefit from feedback on their teaching abilities.

Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., participate in edTPA. Eleven states are working toward participating in the program, or already have their own assessments in place. Of the 17 states that don't have an assessment program, almost all have many small schools or a relatively large share of rural population. (Read more) (Stateline map)

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