Paper 2: The Mathematics Teacher Educator\u27s Reflection on edTPA: The Basics and the Complexity of Georgia\u27s Implementation

Beginning in fall 2015, Georgia will require that all teacher candidates pass the edTPA, a performance-based assessment, as a requirement for initial certification. With the potential to impact teacher preparation programs in a profound way, the questions and issues related to the implementation of edTPA merit some critical reflection. In this article, we introduce the brief history of the instrument and review the basics of edTPA with a particular interest in middle grades mathematics. Furthermore, drawing upon our experience with edTPA during a pilot program and the extensive knowledge base of edTPA rubrics and scoring process, we present issues related to the implementation by examining a list of focus questions relevant to different stakeholders in teacher preparation programs. It is hoped that teacher educators have a meaningful opportunity to examine the new teacher performance assessment and inform their teaching policy and practice