Study abroad programming has seen substantial growth at U.S. institutions of higher education over the past few decades. It has cemented itself as an integral educational option at nearly all U.S. colleges and universities, including for students in teacher preparation programs. While a growing body of research shows evidence that teacher…

Teacher candidates in California are required to pass four standardized tests: the California Basic Educational Skills Test, the California Subject Examinations for Teachers, the Teacher Performance Assessment, and the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment. Many underrepresented minority teacher candidates fail to pass these required tests in…

Empirical research on the predictors of the edTPA scores is growing in education literature. However, to date minimal empirical literature exists on edTPA and physical education as a specific program area. State policymakers, educator preparation program administration, and physical education teacher education faculty may benefit from…

In this paper the authors examine the uses of teaching performance assessments (TPAs) as resources for learning, program evaluation, and improvement in teacher education. The authors begin by outlining their conceptual framing and related research questions about the uses of TPAs as resources for program evaluation and improvement. They describe…

While it was acknowledged as an issue approximately three decades ago, the discussions around shortages in the educator workforce have increased in recent years, causing a great deal of alarm about the nation's capacity to provide quality educators for its students. A related concern is the lack of teachers of color, relative to an increasingly…

Implemented in almost 900 teacher education programs across 41 states and the District of Columbia, edTPA is marketed as a content-specific, standardized portfolio assessment of beginning teacher performance. However, concerns about edTPA and its content specificity are pervasive. To that end, the researchers surveyed teacher educators with World…

The dominant discourse of teacher education is framed as the "construction of the problem of teacher education" (Cochran-Smith et al., 2013). From this neoliberal discourse came the push for more accountability, contributing to the promotion of a nationally scored standardized teacher performance assessment (edTPA). This article examines…

Many Pennsylvania colleges and universities require that teacher candidates pass a standardized assessment in order to gain formal entry in to their education programs. Standardized tests are also required for Level I teacher certification within Pennsylvania. The initial assessment required of all Pennsylvania preservice teachers for…