edTPA Overview
edTPA stands for Educative Teacher Performance Assessment. It is a widely used teacher certification assessment in the United States. edTPA assesses the skills and knowledge of aspiring teachers through a portfolio of real-world classroom experiences.
Why is edTPA used in Teacher Education?
Teacher education programs use edTPA to ensure aspiring teachers are prepared to be effective educators. The assessment focuses on three key areas:
- Planning: Can teacher candidates design lessons that address student needs and learning objectives?
- Instruction: Can teacher candidates deliver engaging and effective lessons that promote student learning?
- Assessment: Can teacher candidates assess student learning and use that information to improve their instruction?
By going through the edTPA process, teacher candidates gain valuable experience in:
- Creating standards-based lesson plans
- Using data to inform instruction
- Reflecting on their teaching practice
Benefits of edTPA
edTPA offers benefits for aspiring teachers, teacher education programs and school districts.
- Teacher Candidates: edTPA provides a chance to showcase their teaching skills and knowledge to potential employers.
- Teacher Education Programs: edTPA helps programs ensure they are preparing future teachers with the skills they need to be successful.
- School Districts: edTPA can be used as a tool for identifying highly qualified teachers.
Getting Started on Your edTPA
Teacher candidates can find edTPA resources and information on the edTPA website.
Austin Peay's Eriksson College of Education has incorporated the edTPA preparation
program throughout the education curriculum to prepare students to excel in the edTPA
assessment and the classroom.
This requires our teacher preparatory program to assess our teacher candidates' readiness to teach using this authentic assessment, in which local candidates' scores may be compared to state and national scores.
edTPA Registration & Submission Portal
For more information, contact:
Dr. Lisa Barron
Director of Teacher Education Partnerships
931.221.7190
barronl@apsu.edu
Claxton 233
