The university supervisor, edTPA, and the new making of the teacher

Authors

  • Martha K. Donovan Georgia State University
  • Susan Ophelia Cannon Georgia State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.26.2849

Keywords:

edTPA, university supervision, teacher education, critical policy studies, pedagogic relationships, self-study methodology

Abstract

As university supervisors at a large, urban university in the southern US, we examined the ways that the Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) shaped the pedagogic relationships and decision-making processes of our students and ourselves during the spring of 2016. We situated this study of edTPA within the framework of critical policy scholarship (Grace, 1984, cited in Lipman, 2010) by reviewing the role of tests in licensing teachers in the context of the perpetual reform of U.S. education. We drew upon Biesta’s (2009) notion that neoliberal accountability trades democratic relationships for consumer relationships and Attick and Boyles’ (2016) argument that edTPA resituated student teaching as a marketplace activity. Applying self-study methodology (Samaras & Freese, 2009), we documented our experiences of supervising preservice teachers as they underwent the edTPA submission process. We found the assessment strongly controlled our relationships with our candidates. As supervisors, we became part of our candidates’ transaction towards certification. Likewise, our candidates viewed us as arbitrators who could help them align themselves and their work to edTPA’s specifications. Nevertheless we found moments that superceded the control of edTPA. We conclude with recommendations that teacher education programs attend closely to their social justice missions and develop new critical pedagogies in the face of the pressure of edTPA.

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Author Biographies

Martha K. Donovan, Georgia State University

Martha K. Donovan is a PhD candidate in the Educational Policy Studies department, concentrating on Social Foundations, at Georgia State University. Her research interests include critical policy studies, ethnographic studies of preservice and veteran teachers, and social justice in urban schools. Her dissertation focuses on seven veteran educators within one urban elementary school and their experiences navigating students’ needs, policy, and their conception of good teaching during the 2016-2017 school year.

Susan Ophelia Cannon, Georgia State University

Susan Cannon is a PhD student in the Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Mathematics Education Unit, in the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University. Her research interests include uncertainty in mathematics classrooms, qualitative research, counting practices and measurement, and teacher education.

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Published

2018-03-05

How to Cite

Donovan, M. K., & Cannon, S. O. (2018). The university supervisor, edTPA, and the new making of the teacher. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 26, 28. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.26.2849

Issue

Section

Navigating the Contested Terrain of Teacher Education Policy and Practice

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