American Museum of Natural History Masters of Arts in Teaching Program

1. Creating, Implementing, and Researching Supports for the Secondary Science edTPA: The First Year Conference on Emerging Evidence and Promising PracticesAlbany, NYJune 18, 2014

2. American Museum of Natural History Masters of Arts in Teaching Program • AMNH • New York City • Scientific research and education institution • 200+ scientists • MAT Program • Graduate level teacher preparation program • Urban teacher residency model • Earth and planetary science • 5 year pilot through NYSED and RTTT • Additional funding through NSF & Noyce Foundation

3. Residency Model Museum Residency School Residency Museum Residency Mentoring(online and onsite) Courses in Science and Pedagogy(online and onsite) AMNH Professional Support

4. Overview of Presentation • Strong scaffolding • Needed to develop quickly • Program is rigorous already • Ongoing formative assessment • Examples of scaffolding and formative assessment • How did the program’s candidates do on the edTPA exam?

5. Formative Tasks as Formative Assessments • We embedded formative tasks (SCALE, 2013) in coursework. • We used these formative tasks as formative assessments. • Students also evaluated their “strengths and needs.” • We used the formative assessments and students’ self-evaluations to design workshops to support edTPA submissions.

6. Formative Tasks in Coursework • Context for Learning • Introduced in summer courses • Required for all AMNH MAT e-Portfolio entries • Task 1: Planning for Instruction and Assessment • Candidates used edTPA-based lesson template throughout program to plan and teach lessons for multiple course assignments in the fall • Instructors used edTPA-like rubrics to assess • SCI 670, SCI 665, EDU 620

7. Lesson Plan Template Scan and put in here

9. Formative Tasks in Coursework • Task 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning • EDU 620 – Curriculum & Instruction • Developed and taught lesson: Analyzing and Interpreting Data • Video and Commentary • Task 3: Assessing Student Learning • EDU 620

10. Analyzing Instructor Feedback • Extensive feedback on formative tasks with edTPA-like rubrics • Analyzed the feedback from the instructor to determine where candidates needed more support • Candidates were confused by academic language (see also Canty, 2014; Hundley, 2013). • Candidates were not adept at analyzing student work to inform instruction nor at structuring opportunities for students to use teacher feedback (SCALE, 2013a). • Candidates had difficulty relating personal, cultural, and community assets to science content. • Candidates had difficulty including research and theory in commentaries.

11. Introduction to edTPA Workshop • Rationale/Overview of edTPA  • Overview of Secondary Science Tasks (pp. 6-8 of handbook) • Linking of tasks to formative assignments: Candidates’ self-assessments • Homework for Feb. 19th: • Context for Learning • Learning Segment Plan • Videotaping in schools – finalizing permission for your class • Review of AMNH edTPA timeline (April 17th deadline) • Overview of the Digication upload tool  • Evaluation of the session

14. Summary of Candidates’ Self-Assessments • Academic language • Development of science understandings through language • Syntax and discourse • Assessment • Identifying patterns of learning • Giving feedback to students • Next instructional steps • Linking students’ prior learning and personal, cultural, and community assets to content • Using theory

15. Workshops 1-5 • Based in our assessments of formative tasks, along with candidates’ self-assessments using these tasks • Five full day Workshops • General Pattern: • Working with Rubrics • Mini-lessons to address needs • Time for independent work and peer review • Troubleshooting and Questions • Homework: edTPA Task to bring in for next workshop’s peer review • Workshop evaluations

16. Connecting Students and Content 1. Think about the content for your learning segment.

17. Connecting Students and Content 2. What do you know about your students?

18. Connecting Students and Content

19. Workshop Evaluation: Workshop I Connecting students and science • I am still confused on how to relate culture and community assets to an ES unit. • What community assets might I use to help NYC kinds connect to earthquakes? Time • Sometimes the structure of the day is too constricting and makes me flustered when I only have x amount of time to do y amount of work. • We need way more time to just work on our lesson plans. • I would have appreciated more time to work independently with my peers in a less structured way. Connecting theory and practice • I need more practice with connecting research/theory with informing my instruction. • Talk/review different theory of education. Maybe provide a table with description of theories and examples. Subject-specific • What distinction does edTPA make between scientific explanations and scientific arguments?

20. edTPA Scores • National pass rate 67% • New York State pass rate 84% • AMNH MAT pass rate 93% (14 out of 15 candidates) • AMNH MAT scores ranged from 32 to 61, with an average of 50 • Strongest: • Rubric 2: Planning to Support Varied Student Learning Needs (3.8:3.1 +7) • Rubric 5: Planning Assessments to Monitor and Support Student Learning (3.7:3.2 +5) • Rubric 9: Subject Specific Pedagogy: Analyzing Data (3.3:2.7 +6) • Weakest: • Rubric 6: Learning Environment (2.8:3.2 -4) • Rubric 8: Deepening Student Learning (3.0:3.0) • Rubric 13: Student Use of Feedback (2.6:2.6)

21. Next Steps • Continue and deepen our analysis (self-study research) • Clarify and solidify where edTPA formative tasks exist across courses (CMP) • Develop and implement lessons earlier in the year for weak categories (e.g., in residency meetings) • Time line: • Push milestones for drafts to earlier • Increase number of sessions, and space them out more • Allow one full week out-of-residency for writing and peer review • Continue peer review • Recognize and allow for each candidates’ work preferences