Open AccessPre-Service Teachers’ Reactions to Education Teacher Performance Assessment
Author(s) -
Belete Mebratu,
Kelly H. Ahuna
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
cultural and pedagogical inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1916-3460
DOI - 10.18733/cpi29483
Subject(s) - practicum , teacher education , student teaching , teacher preparation , student teacher , mathematics education , psychology , pedagogy
The purpose of study was to explore the experiences of teacher candidates about being assessed by the Education Teacher Preparation Assessment (edTPA) requirements during their student teaching practicum. Fifty-six elementary and adolescent majors working for a Master of Science Degree in Education participated in the study by responding to open-ended survey questions. The study aimed at answering two research questions: (1) What are the challenges/concerns that the student teachers report about their experiences of edTPA during their student teaching placements? (2) Do teacher candidates suggest edTPA remains as part of the teacher education program requirement? The findings of the study indicate that the teacher candidates are adamant about their unfavorable experiences of edTPA implementation. They expressed that they found edTPA requirements to be an additional burden, not beneficial, a distraction, and they suggest that edTPA should be discarded from current teacher education programing. While such findings call for considerations to revisit aspects of edTPA for improvement, further studies are suggested to add insight into the nature of edTPA implementation.