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Full-Text Articles in Education
Preparing Middle Grades Candidates For Edtpa In Uncertain Times, Holly H. Pinter, David C. Virtue
Preparing Middle Grades Candidates For Edtpa In Uncertain Times, Holly H. Pinter, David C. Virtue
Current Issues in Middle Level Education
Teacher candidates in North Carolina must earn a passing score on the edTPA assessment to get certified. The middle grades education program at Western Carolina University integrates aspects of the edTPA assessment throughout pre-student teaching coursework and field experiences to prepare candidates for this high-stakes assessment. Some of the edTPA practice assignments serve as key assessments that help the middle grades program faculty evaluate the program and make decisions about curriculum. The pivot to remote and blended learning formats on campus and in partner middle level schools affected the implementation of the edTPA-related assignments. The authors share some of the …
“A Brave Group Of People”: Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions Of Teaching In Middle School, Bettie Perry, Jori S. Beck, Kaavonia Hinton
“A Brave Group Of People”: Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions Of Teaching In Middle School, Bettie Perry, Jori S. Beck, Kaavonia Hinton
Current Issues in Middle Level Education
We set out to create a middle grades program and to inform the field about the perceptions of our teacher candidates on teaching middle school. To accomplish these twin goals, we sought to better understand our teacher candidates’ perceptions of teaching middle school and how these perceptions might be changed if necessary. Our review of research included three themes to frame this work: (a) middle school philosophy, (b) motivations to teach, and (c) middle school teacher preparation. We chose an emergent, qualitative research design to cull rich data from diverse stakeholders including open-ended survey data. We found an overarching deficit …
We Don't Teach To The Edtpa: Maintaining Authenticity And Attaining High Edtpa Scores, Holly J. Thornton
We Don't Teach To The Edtpa: Maintaining Authenticity And Attaining High Edtpa Scores, Holly J. Thornton
Current Issues in Middle Level Education
Concerns have been raised about the high stakes nature of edTPA potentially leading to reductionist, test-driven approaches to teacher preparation. This has come to fruition in practice within many teacher preparation classrooms. EdTPA can devalue anything that is not formally assessed and limit opportunities for faculty and teacher candidates to imagine new possibilities for education (Madeloni & Gorlewski, 2013). In middle level teacher preparation, we can build upon the connections found between AMLE standards (AMLE, 2012) and edTPA. This includes the goal of improving pedagogy through reflection, inquiry, and intentional design to positively impact student learning. As middle …