Subtopic Deep Dive
edTPA Performance Assessment
Research Guide
What is edTPA Performance Assessment?
edTPA is a standardized portfolio-based performance assessment for evaluating teacher candidates' readiness for initial certification through teaching tasks, video clips, and rubrics.
Developed by Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE), edTPA requires candidates to plan, instruct, and assess a lesson sequence across 18 states for licensure. Gitomer et al. (2019) report 65 citations analyzing its reliability and validity in the American Educational Research Journal. Reagan et al. (2016) with 43 citations examine its policy implementation alongside PACT.
Why It Matters
edTPA influences teacher licensure in 18 states and approval in 21 others, shaping preparation programs for millions of candidates (Gitomer et al., 2019). Reagan et al. (2016) detail its policy impact on curriculum and program status. Many et al. (2019) highlight state-wide high-stakes adoption challenges affecting coordinators and candidates. Whittaker et al. (2018) defend its educative role against narrowing critiques.
Key Research Challenges
Reliability and Validity Evidence
Ensuring consistent scoring across rubrics remains critical amid high-stakes use. Gitomer et al. (2019) provide evidence but note variability in scorer agreement. Lalley (2016) applies psychometric methods to validate structure.
State Implementation Concerns
Coordinators face logistical hurdles in high-stakes rollout. Many et al. (2019) use mixed methods to reveal concerns pre-consequential testing. Stallings and Lim (2013) discuss Georgia's preparation complexities.
Candidate Experience Subtractiveness
Teacher candidates report edTPA as reducing focus on holistic preparation. Clayton (2018) documents persistent subtractive experiences in New York programs. Coloma (2015) critiques it for treating students as numbers.
Essential Papers
Assessing the Assessment: Evidence of Reliability and Validity in the edTPA
Drew H. Gitomer, José Felipe Martínez, Dan Battey et al. · 2019 · American Educational Research Journal · 65 citations
The Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) is a system of standardized portfolio assessments of teaching performance mandated for use by educator preparation programs in 18 states, and ap...
Politics of policy: Assessing the implementation, impact, and evolution of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) and edTPA
Emilie Mitescu Reagan, Thomas Schram, Kathryn McCurdy et al. · 2016 · Education Policy Analysis Archives · 43 citations
Summative performance assessments in teacher education, such as the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) and the edTPA, have been heralded through polices intended to enhance the q...
Performance Assessment of Teaching
Stephanie L. Knight, Gwendolyn M. Lloyd, Fran Arbaugh et al. · 2014 · Journal of Teacher Education · 32 citations
Recent challenges concerning the quality of teachers and the programs that prepare them have resulted in responses from professional organizations that have been more widespread and intense than in...
State-wide implementation of edTPA in preparation for high-stakes testing: A mixed-methods study of the concerns of edTPA coordinators
Joyce E. Many, Ruchi Bhatnagar, Carla Tanguay et al. · 2019 · Education Policy Analysis Archives · 30 citations
This study examined the implementation of high-stakes adoption of edTPA® in one state in the year prior to consequential use of edTPA scores for teacher licensure. Using a mixed methods design, we ...
Fulfilling our educative mission: A response to edTPA critique
Andrea Whittaker, Raymond Pecheone, Kendyll Stansbury · 2018 · Education Policy Analysis Archives · 27 citations
Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) provides a commentary on the manuscripts in this special issue, responding to criticisms of edTPA as an assessment that narrows the curr...
Voices from student teachers in New York: The persistence of a subtractive experience of the edTPA as a licensure exam for initial certification
Christine D. Clayton · 2018 · Education Policy Analysis Archives · 20 citations
This article explores how candidates’ experiences in multiple initial certification programs within a single School of Education evolved over the first three semesters of New York’s implementation ...
“Students are Once Again ‘Numbers’ Instead of Actual Human Beings”: Teacher Performance Assessment and The Governing of Curriculum and Teacher Education.
Roland Sintos Coloma · 2015 · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · 16 citations
This paper will examine the educational experiences of teacher candidates and the use of teacher performance assessment (edTPA) to measure their quality, competence, and impact. It will situate edT...
Reading Guide
Foundational Papers
Start with Knight et al. (2014, 32 citations) for performance assessment context, then Stallings and Lim (2013) on early edTPA implementation basics.
Recent Advances
Gitomer et al. (2019, 65 citations) for reliability evidence; Many et al. (2019, 30 citations) on state coordinator concerns; Whittaker et al. (2018) responding to critiques.
Core Methods
Portfolio submission with 15 rubrics scored 1-5; psychometric validation via inter-rater reliability, factor analysis (Gitomer et al., 2019; Lalley, 2016); mixed-methods policy studies (Many et al., 2019).
How PapersFlow Helps You Research edTPA Performance Assessment
Discover & Search
Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph on 'edTPA reliability' to map Gitomer et al. (2019) as central node with 65 citations, then exaSearch uncovers state-specific implementations like Many et al. (2019). findSimilarPapers extends to PACT comparisons from Reagan et al. (2016).
Analyze & Verify
Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to Gitomer et al. (2019) abstracts for reliability metrics, verifies claims via verifyResponse (CoVe) against Lalley (2016) psychometrics, and runs PythonAnalysis on citation data for GRADE scoring of validity evidence trends.
Synthesize & Write
Synthesis Agent detects gaps in candidate impact studies post-2019, flags contradictions between Whittaker et al. (2018) defenses and Clayton (2018) critiques; Writing Agent uses latexEditText, latexSyncCitations for edTPA rubric reviews, and latexCompile for policy reports with exportMermaid timelines.
Use Cases
"Analyze reliability metrics across edTPA validation studies using Python."
Research Agent → searchPapers('edTPA reliability') → Analysis Agent → readPaperContent(Gitomer 2019) + runPythonAnalysis(pandas on scorer agreement data) → statistical summary table with GRADE verification.
"Draft a LaTeX review of edTPA policy implementation challenges."
Synthesis Agent → gap detection(Reagan 2016, Many 2019) → Writing Agent → latexEditText(intro) → latexSyncCitations(10 papers) → latexCompile → PDF with cited rubric diagrams.
"Find code repositories analyzing edTPA scoring data."
Research Agent → searchPapers('edTPA scoring analysis') → Code Discovery → paperExtractUrls → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → R scripts for inter-rater reliability exported via exportCsv.
Automated Workflows
Deep Research workflow conducts systematic review of 50+ edTPA papers: searchPapers → citationGraph → DeepScan 7-step analysis with CoVe checkpoints on Gitomer et al. (2019) validity. Theorizer generates theories on edTPA's policy evolution from Reagan et al. (2016) and Many et al. (2019), outputting Mermaid diagrams of implementation stages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is edTPA?
edTPA is a portfolio assessment requiring teacher candidates to submit lesson plans, video recordings, and assessments for rubric scoring toward licensure (Gitomer et al., 2019).
What methods validate edTPA?
Psychometric analysis of reliability via scorer agreement and validity through construct alignment; Gitomer et al. (2019) and Lalley (2016) apply these to portfolios across states.
What are key edTPA papers?
Gitomer et al. (2019, 65 citations) on reliability/validity; Reagan et al. (2016, 43 citations) on policy; Knight et al. (2014, 32 citations) foundational on performance assessment.
What open problems exist in edTPA research?
Persistent candidate subtractive experiences (Clayton, 2018) and implementation equity across states (Many et al., 2019); need for longitudinal readiness impact beyond Zhou (2018).
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Part of the Teacher Education and Assessments Research Guide