An Exploratory Study into the Nature of the Relationship between Pre-Service Teacher Fixed Factor Characteristics and edTPA Performance Ratings

This study used a quantitative, analytical, non-experimental, explanatory research design. The study used simultaneous multiple regression analysis and analysis of covariance to investigate the factors that may influence the outcome of pre-service teachers’ performance on the edTPA, and to contribute to the overall knowledge of edTPA as a pre-service teacher performance assessment. The study explored the relationship between pre-service teacher demographic and academic performance characteristics and his or her edTPA summative performance ratings in an effort to determine if a relationship exists between these fixed factors and student performance on edTPA. Additionally, this study used comparative statistics, specifically ANCOVA, to determine if significant differences existed in student edTPA performance based on school placement and gender while controlling for student demographic and academic characteristics. The data for this study were collected from a pilot of the edTPA at a Midwestern school of education that is participating in the full implementation of edTPA. The study required specific student demographic data. The independent variables used were the students’ cumulative GPA, student teacher school placement, free or reduced-price lunch percentage, pre-service teacher’s age, whether the pre-service teacher had a Pell Grant or not, pre-service teacher’s gender, and whether the pre-service teacher was Caucasian. The dependent variable of this study was the pre-service teachers’ edTPA performance percentage scores. The results indicated that pre-service teacher cumulative GPA had a statistically significant relationship with their overall edTPA performance rating score. Furthermore, age of the pre-service teacher had a statistically significant relationship with their overall edTPA performance rating score. The results indicated that the influence of student teacher school placement, free or reduced-price lunch category (STSP FRL categories) was not found to have a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable edTPA percentage score after controlling for GPA or pre-service teacher age. The results also indicated that the influence of gender was not found to have a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable edTPA percentage score after controlling for GPA or pre-service teacher age