edTPA: You, Too, Shall Pass

Abstract

EdTPA was more than an assessment of teacher preparedness. It was more than a reflective writing task. It was a measurement of one’s own sanity and will to reach the light at the end of a tremendously redundant tunnel. After a few months of sifting through this assessment and its three tasks, I had to question, were the writers of edTPA conspiring to lure young educators away from careers in education, perhaps due to a deficit in other industries such as plumbing or politics? Maybe it was a weeding-out experiment designed to prevent anyone who does not have the wherewithal to complete it from becoming a teacher, since such failure, I guess, is supposed to suggest that one should not be trusted to educate the youth.

Keywords

• Teachers
• Training teachers
• Student teachers
• Evaluation of student teachers
• Teacher certification
• Teacher certification standards
• Education
• Applied linguistics
• edTPA