National Assessments for Student Teachers: Documenting Teaching Readiness to the Tipping Point

To evaluate the impact of the emergent national teacher performance assessment (TPA) on student teachers, this study examined a pilot implementation at one university in Washington State during Spring 2011. The qualitative research focused on the lived experience of those directly affected by TPA implementation: student teachers, mentor teachers, and university supervisors. Findings include some potential benefits to the TPA, including student teachers reporting greater levels of reflection enabling them to better focus on student thinking, and university supervisors appreciating the shift in analysis of teaching episodes to the student teacher. However, there is also evidence that the TPA is trying to do too much too soon—with several aspects of the TPA being developmentally inappropriate and implausible within the context of student teaching. With too many requirements and not enough supports, student teachers are in danger of being positioned beyond "the tipping point." Recommendations include piloting different versions of the TPA, highlighting varying levels of description, analysis, and reflection. Relatedly, portfolio processes must be analyzed to seek the optimum balance between documenting positive learning interactions with and allowing teachers with little experience to create, for the first time, those positive learning experiences.