Placements, Partnerships, Practice and Practical Support: A Recipe for Success

1. Placements, Partnerships, Practice and Practical Support: A Recipe for Success Barbara A. Burns and Jeffrey Lindauer Canisius College

2. Our Approach

3. Placements • Pre-student teaching—semester before student teaching • Extensive practicum (50-200 hours) • “Looped” into student teaching • Benefits • Maximize candidate success • Allowed for groups of candidates to be in one environment to learn from each other and for support • Candidates were already familiar with the schools/CT’s/curriculum • Faculty could collaborate with schools using existing support structures to assure CT’s were engaged in conversations about edTPA • Regular contact between College/School liaisons

4. Partnerships • Strategically assigned teacher candidates to PDS or partnership schools • Offered professional development to CT’s around edTPA requirements • College faculty designed a PPT that emphasized connections between edTPA and the APPR

5. Practice • Completed entire edTPA during pre-student teaching • Pre-student teaching courses taught by college faculty who were trained edTPA scorers or who completed significant PD on the edTPA • Candidates were taught who to complete each task, followed deadlines, received peer and faculty feedback and practiced uploading to Taskstream • College faculty used edTPA to discuss standards-based lesson planning, differentiated instruction, data-based decision making, and reflective practice • Helpful for technical details of edTPA technology requirements

6. Practical Support • Revised student teaching seminar to edTPA support for first half of semester • FT college faculty with extensive expertise in edTPA taught the seminars • edTPA rubrics were discussed as each Task was due • Peer review and feedback were utilized • Candidates completed edTPA in first placement and a week was added between placements to allow more time to complete and submit edTPA • Graduate tutor hired through the Student Support Center • College faculty educated IT staff on edTPA and they assisted in support for technology needs

7. Results

8. Surveys • We collected survey information from our cooperating teachers and student teachers dealing with edTPA in general and our support model in particular • Our cooperating teacher response rate was 86% • Our student teacher response rate was 78% • Common elements in survey prompts: • edTPA was overwhelming • Impact of edTPA on student teaching responsibilities • Relevance of edTPA to student teaching experiences • Our “looping” model

9. edTPA was overwhelming Cooperating Teachers Student Teachers 87% felt edTPA was overwhelming • 69% reported student teacher was overwhelmed • “I have never worked with a student teacher who was so clearly stressed” • “Even though she was organized, it was always on her mind”

10. Impact of edTPA on Student Teaching Responsibilities Cooperating Teachers Student Teachers 80% reported interference • 39% reported interference • “Lesson plans suffered and weren’t turned in to me in a timely fashion” • “She needed to complete certain parts of edTPA before she could even think about teaching”

11. Relevance of edTPA to Student Teaching Experience Cooperating Teachers Student Teachers 67% recognized relevance 22% indicated edTPA enhanced the experience • 53% recognized relevance • 16% indicated edTPA enhanced the experience • “Hands-on experience is going to enhance student teaching, not worrying about all of the paperwork that is required!”

12. Our “LOOPING” Model Cooperating teachers Student Teachers 83% agreed that looping was a valuable support • 83% agreed that looping was a valuable support • “This time was vital for my student teacher to meeting the obligations of edTPA” • “This was huge! The first week of student teaching was spent on the edTPA not having them observe and get to know us”

13. Conclusions Where do we go from here?

14. Move Toward Clinically Rich Model • Our survey results indicated: • Still a lot of work to be done in the area of implementation of edTPA • Overwhelmed feeling needs to be toned down • Looping model helped our students to be more comfortable with the class and better able to work on their edTPA • Looping model helped our cooperating teachers to know what to expect in regard to edTPA implementation • The more time they spend in the same classroom, the more comfortable they are • What would a clinically rich model look like?