A MIXED METHODS STUDY EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLINICAL EVALUATIONS AND edTPA

There is very little research on educator preparation programs’ impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2005; Hagans & Powers, 2015; Korthagen, 2010; Okhremtchouk et al., 2009). This mixed methods study used a sequential explanatory approach (Creswell, 2009) to explore three research questions regarding the relationship between existing clinical supervision evaluations in a teacher preparation program and a newly adopted high-stakes standardized summative assessment for licensure. In phase one of this study, the question of the relationships between the scores on the clinical lesson plan and presentation evaluations and edTPA is explored using Pearson r correlation. In phase two of this study, the patterns and trends discovered in phase one were used to develop focus group questions to answer the questions regarding the areas the clinical lesson plan and presentation evaluations and edTPA best align and the extent to which the student teaching candidates, clinical supervisors, and cooperating teachers felt the feedback from the clinical lesson plan and presentation evaluations impacted performance on edTPA. Three focus groups were conducted; student teaching candidates, clinical supervisors, and cooperating teachers. In phase three, the data were analyzed together to develop a broad understanding of the problem (Creswell, 2009; Creswell, 2015) using a systematic coding process (Flick, 2013). Diane Laurillard’s ‘conversational framework’ as illustrated in Yorke (2003) was considered during the final analysis. The overall analysis revealed that, while all correlations were positive, little alignment existed among the rubrics. The stronger, more significant alignments included lesson planning and student engagement tasks. Areas with no significant results included the assessment tasks and those involving reflection and analysis. Where significant results existed, there were high expectations from the clinical supervisors and cooperating teachers for candidates to perform in these tasks, as well as reports of explicit feedback with opportunities to refine skills. The type, quality, and frequency of feedback, as well as perceptions that other factors impacted edTPA performance more than the candidates’ teaching practices; such as, writing skills, time management skills, and length of placement