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More hurdles to earn teaching license
By: Rebecca Harris / May 01, 2012
Student teacher John Waters works with students at Manierre Elementary
Several local schools of education are among those in 25 states piloting a new evaluation system for teacher candidates that will require them to compile a portfolio of work--including video clips of their classroom teaching—to earn a teaching license. The Teacher Performance Assessment, or TPA, is similar to the portfolio assessment that teachers must compile to earn National Board certification.
Under a little-noticed law passed last summer, all graduates of schools of education must pass the assessment by 2015 and schools of education must begin phasing it in by July 2013.
The law was passed just two months after Senate Bill 7, the sweeping bill that overhauled teacher tenure and hiring in Illinois. It makes other changes to teacher certification, including instituting a single license for both elementary and high school teaching and requiring elementary teachers to pass content-area tests.
The TPA will make it more difficult to become a teacher, since candidates now only have to pass a basic-skills test, subject-area tests, and a certification test about teaching practices. But it’s not likely to weed out many candidates, based on the results from a similar assessment used in California. About 85 percent of teacher candidates passed the Performance Assessment for California Teachers, or PACT, on the first try, according to a pilot study of the tool.
Focus on lesson planning, understanding students, research
The TPA rates teacher candidates on whether they:
*Plan lessons that use high-quality content and account for students’ prior knowledge
*Test students and provide evidence that they know how to analyze and use data from the tests
*Give students useful written feedback
*Reflect on what the next step would be in the unit they are teaching
“It’s about student assessment data, and evidence, and being able to argue your practice in light of changes in students,” says Carole Mitchener, an associate professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, one of several local schools of education that have already begun phasing in the assessment.
Tim Daly, president of TNTP, formerly The New Teacher Project, says it’s “good for candidates to demonstrate some proficiency before they enter the classroom. [But] it will be important to watch whether it’s actually distinguishing good candidates from sub-standard candidates, or [only] sorting out the worst of the worst.”
Researchers are expected to release data sometime this summer that will show whether the TPA is a valid and reliable tool for predicting student achievement.
The TPA is based on three to five days of a student teacher’s work. The portfolio must include all the materials used in the lessons –everything from overhead slides, to worksheets and tests, to safety procedures used for science experiments. Candidates must also write essays and commentary to explain their instructional practice, expectations of students, lesson planning and the research and education theories behind their practice.
Unedited video clips are included; in science, for instance, the clips must show that teacher candidates have students collect data, and that students are then using that data to develop an explanation of what they observed.
Student work is included too.
In her commentary on a lesson about electrical circuits, one UIC teacher candidate (who passed the pilot version of the assessment) noted: “I let the students know what I will be looking [for] in their journals and what I expect to see at the end of each section.” About a group of students shown in a video, she wrote, “I really try to ask more questions of the students [rather] than to explain the content to them.”
When the candidate saw that many students were not applying what they had learned previously to new lessons, she made plans to re-teach the material and revisit past concepts. Seeing that 81 percent of her class could identify conducting materials and provide evidence for their choices, she made plans to meet after school with those who didn’t get it. She noted that closely monitoring one student helped bring him up to par by the end of the unit.
In her final reflection, the candidate wrote that she “would like to take a step back and allow the students to question each other,” rather than asking all of the questions herself. She also noted that she would have to change her practice and “model” for students how she wanted them to interact.
The candidate also noted how she could improve, by having students walk around and view each other’s work and by encouraging shy students to take on leadership roles in groups.
Phase-in through 2015
The education company Pearson, which is working with Stanford University to make the assessment more widely available, will collect the portfolio materials and score the assessment. The state has not yet set a passing score for it, however.
At UIC, teacher candidates finish a practice version of the TPA before they begin formal student teaching, Mitchener says.
Eleni Katsarou, director of elementary education at the UIC College of Education, says the TPA gives education school faculty a good sense of how well their teacher candidates are doing.
“This is the only way we have, that all of us are going to agree [on] to ensure teacher candidates have the goods,” Katsarou says. “Given the attacks that have appeared in the popular media and other circles about colleges of education, [improving] teacher effectiveness, teacher quality—it is the way to go.”
UIC has also asked CPS to work with them to link the value-added scores of alumni who are currently teaching in CPS schools back to the university. New state rules require that to happen eventually, but not for several more years.
Vicki Chou, dean of the school’s College of Education, says UIC has been trying to get access to its alumni’s value-added scores for years, without success. She has met with CPS officials about the idea, which is now tied up in considerations about legal and human resources policy issues.
UIC is willing to provide the manpower needed, she adds. “We’ve volunteered interns, we’ve volunteered grant support to hire someone,” Chou says. “We are trying to make it work.”
Licensing changes in the works
The law that mandates TPA also lays the groundwork for several other changes in teacher licensing. Linda Tomlinson, assistant superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education, says the state will move to a single license with different endorsements for high school, middle grades and elementary education.
Currently, teachers must earn either an early childhood (birth-3rd grade), elementary (K-9th grade) or secondary (6th-12th grade) teaching certificate. Now, teachers will earn the same certificate, but different endorsements based on the subjects and age groups they teach.
All teachers, including elementary teachers, will have to pass content-area tests in the subjects they plan to teach. Currently, elementary teachers in self-contained classrooms do not have to pass content tests.
The changes are partly to make the licensing system easier for teachers and principals to understand, and partly to ensure teachers know the content they will be teaching from the new Common Core State Standards.
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Read the quote below. Am I the only one seeing a little 1984 in this ??? It's really getting quite wierd downstate too????? Who are all of these AWESOME EDUCATORS that can judge so much???????? The same ones who put us in the mess we are now?
UIC has also asked CPS to work with them to link the value-added scores of alumni who are currently teaching in CPS schools back to the university. New state rules require that to happen eventually, but not for several more years.
VAM
UIC, along with psychometricians across the country, is quite clear about the significant problems associated with using value-added scores for high-stakes decisions; we agree with our colleagues that the current state of research suggests these scores should NOT be used in these ways. With that said, having been ceaselessly threatened that our graduates' students' scores will be tied back to the institutions that prepared them to be teachers, the education deans at UIC, Loyola, National Louis, and Northeastern Illinois have asked to be part of the ramp-up to the eventual state mandate. Our thinking is that we would rather be in position to influence the outcomes than wait passively to be done to by a process that most certainly will be flawed.
to Vicki Chou
I don't blame you RACE TO THE TOP and NCLB have finally leaked into the Universities too!! It scares me!
...but PLESE find an UNBIASED statistician (PHD) and testing expert (preferably from the OUTSIDE...maybe even another country) ....have them do a VALUE ADDED study of the NWEA test itself. The test has flaws and its administration has flaws. Scores fluctuating 8-20 points in 1 week...up and down. It needs to be looked over with a fine tooth comb before all of these great Universities spend precious money following this test's results. It's kind of like giving someone hip surgery based on a bad x-ray or giving diabetes treatments because you tested someone’s blood with a broken glucose meter? We don't know if NWEA is a good meter or if Common Core is a good treatment yet? They used to Claim the ISAT was infalable. Now know one wants to admit they even care about the ISAT nor the old state standards.. How do we know this won't happen again when the next REGIME come in?
We need to know if the x-ray is correct first. NWEA is the XRAY...but is it proven??????????? Have there been independent studies of this test, or does everyone just believe the NWEA website?
Someone needs to have the GUTS and COURAGE to study and evaluate the COMMON CORE STANDARDS and NWEA before it is all TOO LATE!! Not just tow the political line (democrat and republican)
I really don’t know if it is a good test or not, or if the common core standards are going to be effective. Common core needs about 5 good years of actual implementation and results before we know if it is beneficial and doable. The same with NWEA…..is it a measure of a good teacher…or just some nice looking spreadsheets to calm the masses!
UIC
Unless UIC also did a pilot test of TPA last year, I am curious as to where the information from a UIC student came from. The TPA portfolio was turned in 2 weeks ago and the results are not supposed to come in until the middle to end of the summer.
The TPA was somewhat useful, however, it is incredibly repetitive. One must answer the same question several times. I also think that there should be different versions for those that teach primary and those who teach in the upper grades. It doesn't make senes that someone in a 1st grade classroom is being asked the same questions as someone who teaches 8th grade. The planning, implementation, and assessment processes are going to be different.
Correction
It should be noted that elementary teacher candidates have had to take and pass a content area test for many years. The test includes five subareas: language arts and literacy; mathematics; social sciences; science; the arts, health, and physical education. Most universities currently require that the teacher candidates submit passing scores on the content area test before being assigned a student teaching placement. See the following link for more information on the elementary/middle grades content test: http://www.icts.nesinc.com/PDFs/IL_field110_SG.pdf.
IL-TPAC pilot
The TPA pilot took place in spring 2011. In Illinois, three campuses participated in the pilot with the support of ISBE: Illinois College, Illinois State University, and UIC. So, yes, that could well have been a teacher candidate from the pilot, or the article's author might be using the terms pilot and field test interchangeably (inappropriately so).
This year, 2011-2012 is the field test for the TPA, IC, ISU, and UIC continued their TPA practice and quite a number of other campuses (don't have access to the info, atm) are contributing TPA portfolios for the field test.
No, it would not make sense to have a "one-size fits few" approach to the assessment. That's why TPAC did not take such an approach. The TPA is, in fact, a subject-specific assessment, with at least 17 subjects already represented with handbooks, and with the design of the handbooks and rubrics led by experts from that subject area. There is considerable overlap in the sense that the key domains of practice to be examined are the same across subjects, e.g., that one plans instruction with one's students' needs in mind, that one engages students in understanding, assesses students' understanding, provides support for academic language demands, and analyzes one's own teaching effectiveness and assessment results to plan next steps. There are subject-specific considerations reflected in the rubrics that will be used to score the portfolios, and scorers will have to draw from their own subject-matter expertise to interpret the evidence candidates submit and judge its appropriateness.
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rubrics don't always work..and we all know it!!! test scorers are often disgruntled college graduates! I know one personally! he said it's nuts...warehouses full of tests...30 min breaks.....human error.....many factors....we are overtesting..now our teachers!
Scorers for TPAC
Scorers for TPAC are university faculty and K-12 teachers (some national board certified) who are subject matter experts and mentor beginning teachers.
Amee
However, can you promise these tests will always be graded by these high quality test graders when it hits the general new teacher pool all over the state?
TPA scorers
The credentials which qualify one to be eligible to score have been negotiated between TPAC (Stanford) and Pearson, and they have been published. Thus the provision seems to be in place. Several states will have the requirement in effect next academic year. We'll have several years to see the standards held.
Public Education
When a private Company like Pearson is "negotiating" what makes a good teacher I get scared...very scared. Also, this is Illinois..not California? We have lost complete control of our state's right to control education.....scorers get a 1.5 day training? Not only have we gone from overtesting students. Now we are overtesting teachers....I don't know ...maybe this is all for the good of students and schools. However, I feel like it's just another step in a complete takeover of public education and the autonomy of universities to train teachers in their own unique ways...just saying...
FACTS ABOUT THE SCORERS
I am a National Board Certified Teacher, have taught at the elementary level for 15 years, and have a Master's Degree. I have been a mentor teacher to several teaching interns. Pearson has been very selective about the people hired to be scorers. I was given the go-ahead to score Elementary Literacy entries only after I was thoroughly screened for my qualifications and I also had to go through intense training that took days, not 1.5 days. Even after that, I still had to pass Pearson's scoring assessment satisfactorily by scoring a TPA. Believe me, the scorers are highly qualified, so don't talk about what you really don't know much about.
I don't doubt you
I doubt you I just am just suspicious of Pearson..I truly beileive when FOR profit inductries start becoming the "standard" I feel like the private market is ruling the public sector. I never said the scorers are not "Worthy"..I am just worried that Pearson, which is privately owned, is starting to dictate what is good and what is not good. Let's face it the ISAT became the Defacto standards for illinois, now the NWEA is the Defacto stadards of CPS schools. Now Pearson is setting the guidlines on what makes a good teacher? I thought thats what we have universities for?
Listen, I am not saying you are not qualified....but at the end of the day if Pearson gets BOMBARDED with teacher applicants, who is to say they will not lower there standards?
IJust saying....I am just against Private taking over a public institution!! That's all! We have produced some of the best colleges and high schools and inverntors in this country without the layers of license red tape we are creating....I think it is the experience and background that makes a teacher...not Pearson!!
Please accept my apologies...I was against Pearson! not the employees!! I am just worried schools will be taken over by corporations that want profit over progress and creating a good citizen!!
Not all of the scorers are
Not all of the scorers are "disgruntled college students". Many are working, highly qualified teachers with National Board Certification.
Concerning TPA
I have recently become the poster child for the exception. I have an excellent record academically, and I have had a horrible mentor and internship situation which all parties at the University and local school are very aware of. HOWEVER, I have taken the ball and truly run with it. My mentor, has left reality and I have been running the classroom completely while a substitute has been paid to sit and read a newspaper. I have fantastic experience running a preschool classroom, references from many clinical teachers, instructors, and faculty at my internship site, exemplary Praxis scores, and a truck load of preparations for my own classroom ready to go. My videos reflect exactly what the Common Core and local principles are hopeful to get in a teacher. I have two job offers. All this seemingly "boastful" mumbo jumbo has been presented to state, I have not passed the TPA. I have several classmates who not only SHOULD NOT TEACH, no longer desire to teach, will never receive a teaching job offe,r and WILL NEVER TEACH that have passed the assessment first time out. They are MUCH younger than I am, and have told me they completely fabricated most of the assessment to pass it. Many of them have no desire to teach now, nor are they ready to step in front of a classroom solo. I am the Poster Child for the exception and true FLAW in this requirement for licensure. I graduate in one week, a Magna cum laude student, with a job waiting...that I cannot take due to this assessment. ( I must add, I totally misinterpreted the very first Task as it was written. I am in the "revision" process which is supposed to provide a supervisor/certified grader to double check my understanding and guide my revisions. She has not helped ONE BIT, or even looked at a single word I have written and has told me to simply submit.) This is a surreal nightmare!
Reality check
There is no information here regarding your quantitative abilities. You have provided a sample of your verbal abilities, however, and they are wanting. I suspect your test scores show this and, if so, they are on the mark.
Far from being the "poster child" for the exception, you are a better example of a person possessing poor communication skills that the process is designed to "weed out."
There are a lot of good people who do not have the skills to enter the teaching profession. You may be among them. Good luck in finding your true calling.
what the heck?
this sounds like a bad kafka novel....i can only imagine your nightmare? it's all very very strange..... teaching is in a nose dive! it is being taken over by zombies........common core is the final straw....everyone carries their common core books like the chinese in carried their little red books in the cultural revolution....my guess is that these TPA graders are have had their egos overbloated and want to keep others down to prove their superiority.....this is the new way of education....
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