0. Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program
Alabama Educator Preparation Programs and Certain Certification Approaches
Dr. Jendia Grissett

1. What is ?
Nationally available, subject-specific performance assessment
Focuses on student learning and principles from research and theory
Designed to be educative for candidates, preparation programs and policy makers 1

2. What is ?
Helps candidates develop the confidence and skills they need to be successful in urban, suburban, and rural schools.
Provides a uniform and evidence-based process that can be used across states to confirm that aspiring teachers demonstrate their readiness for the classroom.
Measures candidates' ability to differentiate instruction for diverse learners, including English language learners and special education students.
Provides meaningful and consistent data that can be used to improve teacher education programs and renew program curriculum.
Creates a body of evidence of teacher performance 2

3. Who is Involved?

4. edTPA Development
Stanford University faculty and staff have been involved in the past 25-years in the development of performance-based assessments of teaching including the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
InTASC portfolio
Performance Assessment for California Teachers
Reflects substantive advice from teachers and teacher educators
Input from design and review team members comprised of
university faculty
national subject matter organization representatives
K-12 teachers 4

5. 27 Subject-Specific Areas
Agriculture
Business
Classical Languages
Early Childhood
Educational Technology Specialist
Tech and Engineering
English as an Additional Language
Family & Consumer Science
Health
Performing Arts
Physical Education
Library Specialist
Literacy Specialist
Special Education
Visual Arts
World Language
Elementary Education
Literacy & Mathematics
Literacy
Mathematics
Middle Childhood
English-Language Arts
History/Social Studies
Science
Secondary

6. Copyright © 2015 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. edTPA handbooks are authored
by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE) with editorial and design assistance from Pearson.

7. Summative Assessment of Teaching Practice
Common Architecture across 27 fields
Subject Specific “Learning Segment” of 3-5 days/hours of instruction
Plans based on contextual knowledge of the learning environment:
Academic, social emotional and language development
Prior academic learning, lived experiences, personal, community and cultural assets
Portfolio collection of artifacts and commentaries

8. Evidence of Practice Task 1: Planning Task 2: Instruction Task 3:
Assessment
Context for Learning
Lesson Plans
Instructional Materials
Student assignments
Planning Commentary
Unedited Video Clips
Instruction Commentary
Evaluation criteria used to analyze student learning
Analysis of whole class assessment
Analysis of learning and sample of feedback to three students
Assessment Commentary

9. edTPA Rubric Blueprint
Task name: Rubric Title
Guiding Question
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Represents the knowledge and skills of a seriously struggling candidate who is not ready to teach
Represents the knowledge and skills of a candidate who is possibly ready to teach
Represents the knowledge and skills of a candidate who is qualified to teach
Represents a candidate with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills for a beginning teacher
Represents the advanced skills and abilities of a candidate very well qualified and ready to teach
For MOST fields, There are 15 subject-specific rubrics, five for each task. Each contains a focus, which can be found in the title, a guiding question, and five performance levels that illustrate a progression from “not ready to teach” to “stellar candidate.”
Level 1- Represents the knowledge and skills of a seriously struggling candidate who is not ready to teach
Level 2- Represents the knowledge and skills of a candidate who is possibly ready to teach.
Level 3- Represents the knowledge and skills of a candidate who is qualified to teach.
Level 4- is indicative of a candidate with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills for a beginning teacher
Level 5- Represents the advanced skills and abilities of a candidate very well qualified and ready to teach.

10. Rubric Progression 1 5 Teacher Focus Student Focus
Not Ready
Early Novice
Highly
Accomplished
Beginner 1 5
Teacher Focus
Student Focus
Whole Class
Individuals/ Flexible Groups
Intentional & Well Executed
Fragmented or
Indiscriminate

11. Who Scores? 50% EPP faculty and 50% P-12 Educators who:
Are subject matter experts
Have experience mentoring or supervising beginning teachers
Have taught in that subject in the past 5 years
Taught methods or supervised student teachers in that field or
Administer teacher preparation programs
Over 20% of scorers are National-Board Certified Teachers 11

12. Scores and Score Reporting
Candidates
Aggregate score across all rubrics
Rubric-level descriptive feedback
Preparation Programs
Candidate-level scores
Aggregate data by field

13. Score Profile Score Summary Rubric Score Total edTPA Score
Average Rubric Score
1 Score Summary
The most recent scores you have earned on this assessment across all attempts.
2 Rubric Score
This column displays your score for each edTPA rubric. These scores may be
reported as an average, as more than one scorer may score your portfolio.
Note: If your score is a letter (e.g., “A”), and not a number, the submission could not be scored due to one of the conditions listed in the “Condition
Codes” in the Submission Requirements document on the Candidate Policies page at .
3 Total edTPA Score
The total is the sum of all rubric scores. In the case of a .5 score at the Total edTPA
Score level (e.g., 39.5), the Total edTPA score will be rounded up to the next highest
whole number (e.g., 40). Note: Rubrics without a numeric score are not
included in the Total edTPA Score.
4 Average Rubric Score
The average score is calculated by dividing the Total edTPA Score (unrounded)
by the number of scored rubrics.

14. Score Profile Performance Description Score Reporting
5. Performance Description This section describes your performance on each scoring rubric. Use this information to interpret your performance.
6 Score Reporting These states and/or institutions also received your results, as you requested during registration.

16. Why ? Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program
Basic Skills Assessments: Reading for Information; Writing; and
Mathematics – Entry into a Teacher Education Program and some initial
certification approaches such as the Alternative Baccalaureate
Certification route.
Content Knowledge Assessments: Praxis II assessments to gauge “a just qualified candidates” knowledge of his/her content knowledge. (A federal requirement under Title II reporting.)
edTPA: A performance assessment that requires a beginning teacher to demonstrate teaching effectiveness. 16

17. Why ? August 2014 September 2014 October 2014
21 of 27 EPPs attended Auburn University session on GA’s implementation of edTPA
September 2014
AL State BOE adopts resolution to endorse ACEPLEP report concepts
Combining CAEP standards with Continuous Improvement of Educator Preparation Program Review
Explore use of Teacher Performance Assessment
October 2014
State Superintendent Memo 17

18. Why ? Implement State-wide performance assessment
Fall semester Academic year
Initial Professional Educator Certificate requirement
Class B internships
Alternative Class A internships
Grant opportunity
Learn about edTPA
Plan with K-12 partners
Encourage interns to participate in official scoring 18

19. Alignment to Initial Certification in Alabama

20. P-12 Partners and Cooperating Teachers
Collaborative
Co-Teaching
Mutually Beneficial
Reflection
Analysis of Data
Mentor
Facilitator
Videotaping
National Board Certification
IEPs
Contextual Learning Environment

22. 2014 Administrative Report
18,436 portfolios (15-rubric field handbooks)
44.3 average
7.8 standard deviation
Candidates performed most strongly on
the planning task (M = 15.4),
followed by the instruction task (M = 14.8)
and the assessment task (M = 14.1).

23. Additional Sources of Information
edTPA.com
edTPA.aacte.org