The State Board for Educator Certification met on February 10th in a work session to discuss pedagogical exam requirements, the PDR exam, and the edTPA program. The agenda and a video of this hearing can be found here.
This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.
Item 3: Review SBEC Pedagogical Exam Requirement for Teacher Certification
- Staff – Since 2015 the board has been concerned with hiring and training quality teachers; current exams are not yielding the results schools and state boards want
- edTPA is a reliable source to predict teacher performance; board plans on replacing PPR as proposed in December
- Board discussed criteria for exams over the summer; meaningful and consistent, aligns with expectations, and ensures effectiveness
PPR Discussion
- Board answers PPR sample questions to analyze the alignment of the PPR exam and their proposed exam criteria from the summer
- Kim – This test is in sections; however, teachers normally have a single moment to get ideas across
- Board Member – Lot of successful teaching experience, however felt they answered questions poorly; not an accurate representation of teacher quality
- Kim – Teaching is also about coordinating and research vetting; making educators take test without practicing lesson planning lacks a major aspect of the job
- Brescia – PPR is supposed to test validity and reliability; I’m not sure it is valid, and I think there is a better way to gauge predisposition
- Chair – Some academics will ace the test yet not have any personable skills with children making it a poor performance assessment
- Coleman – When taking the BARR, you use the IRAC rule and a translation to this format would be a constructed response; would a constructed response allow for analysis and comprehension skills?
- Chair – Similar to open ended but not identical
- Galvan – PPR measures reading comprehension and previous program preparation; PPR measures good quantitative results, however it seems like the board is looking for qualitative performance results through something like edTPA
- Chair – It seems reliable to you but is it sufficient?
- Galvan – It has strengths and weaknesses; it depends on what the boards target is
- Kim – I agree the PPR does a good job at managing the educator’s education program success, however, does not measure teaching skills or classroom performance
- Board Member – Drivers test measure informative and demonstrative skills both are equally important; teaching has two distinctive aspects that should both be tested knowledge and performance
- Kelly – PPR was not designed to assess the judgement of future teachers; trust the test takers previous education to have taught them demonstrative skills
- Staff – PPR score reports only shows number of questions asked and number of questions that are correct; no detailed judgement of what mistakes were made making it unhelpful to program and individuals
- Streepey – Could you share the PPR pass rate?
- Staff – a little bit above a 90%
- Kim – When we hire teachers, I do not look at scores; I would prefer to know they have demonstration experience
- Chair – Receiving criticism about edTPA; should not be used pass/fail but monitored by EPP ad used as additional curriculum resource
- Ward – Presents document with signatures of teachers and organizations lobbying for edTPA to be an additional curriculum requirement alongside PPR and not a standalone
- Milburn – edTPA was not supposed to be a certification exam; 4 states have gotten rid of edTPA and are moving towards curriculum portfolios
- Milburn – Proposing that SBEC create portfolio requirements, such as edTPA, to be a curriculum requirement to act in combination with a licensing exam
- Rodriguez – How do you know the EPP’s are choosing the best teachers?
- Milburn – After a student completes their 30 hours they can teach in the classroom as an intern, around 40 % of students do this
- Milburn – Under only edTPA examination they would have no experience; it does not have to be completed before the first day only within their first year of teaching
- Kim – I think school flexibility is important however there needs to be a teaching standard; If a PPR tests fulfilled these requirements there would be no issue however it doesn’t
- Chair – Houston chronicle reported today that 55% of teachers are ready to leave the profession; we don’t want to add any more deterrents to the profession
edTPA Discussion
- edTPA provides candidates opportunity to demonstrate skills
Amy Hickman, Texas Tech University & Tech Teach
- Professional development facilitator; traditional, FastTrack and non-education major pathways
- edTPA was chosen for Tech Teach 3 years ago
- During year 1, 124 portfolios submitted, year 2 168 submitted, and year 3 267 submitted
- Task 1 requires candidates to plan an instruction assessment based on the district and classroom specifics
- Task 2 requires candidates to teach lessons 3-5 days and record performance
- Task 3 requires candidates to assess themselves; reflect on next steps
- Presents student edTPA portfolio example in closed session
- Presents the edTPA score report; helped analyze data for student performance, is a lot of data to process
- Has helped narrowed down weaknesses and strengths of the program/candidates
- TEA Staff – edTPA data aims to capture one cycle of teaching which is analyzed by this set of rubrics
- Kelly – This item is the “900-pound gorilla in the room”
- Kelly – Members can ask these questions tomorrow; will be item 19 in tomorrow’s meeting