AACTE Celebrates Official Launch of edTPA

Today marks a proud accomplishment of the teacher preparation community and our partners as we celebrate the launch of the first nationally available, standards-based performance assessment for preservice teachers: edTPA.

edTPA was created for the profession by the profession and is already in use by nearly 500 teacher preparation providers in 32 states and the District of Columbia. With edTPA now fully operational, every preparation program in the country has access to a rigorous, reliable assessment that will give us confidence that aspiring teachers are ready to take charge of their classroom on Day One. This is truly a transformational moment in teacher preparation.

We commend the work of AACTE members, the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity, and our other partners across the profession to develop and implement edTPA. Programs have been dedicated to improving how they prepare teachers to support PK-12 learning, using edTPA even in the absence of policy mandates and participating in 2 years of field testing.

To complement the official nationwide launch of edTPA, a recommended passing score has also been announced based on field test data and guidance from a three-panel standard-setting process in summer 2013. The recommended passing score is 42, within a range that accounts for measurement error.

AACTE supports edTPA as part of a multiple-measure assessment system to ensure readiness to teach. Based on the results of the field test, we are confident that well-prepared candidates will be able to score within the recommended range. We encourage our members to work with their state policy makers to develop a passing standard that facilitates their transition to using edTPA and their efforts to support candidates through the process.

Results and the recommended passing standard were announced this morning at a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. A report on the field test results can be found on the edTPA web site, and a summary post will be available soon on this blog.


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Sharon Robinson

President and CEO, AACTE