Review: Items Included in this Module:

  • Video: edTPA Overview Fall and Spring
  • Resource: Explanation of edTPA
  • Setting Up For Success: Important Steps for Beginning the edTPA Process
  • Video: edTPA Process for the EDUC 430 Fall Semester
  • Video: Acceptable Supervising Teacher Support During the edTPA Process
  • Resource: Teachers Who Support Teacher Candidates
  • Resource: Making Good Choices
  • Resource: edTPA Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
  • Official edTPA Website
  • edTPA Handbooks*

Video: edTPA Overview

In order to earn an NC teaching license, teacher candidates must complete an edTPA portfolio similar to what is used for National Board Certification. In the fall, they will practice this project with significant support and help; in the spring, when they’re student teaching, they must independently create another portfolio, submit it to Pearson, and earn a passing score. Pearson/edTPA does make provision for candidates to create and submit the portfolio to reflect online teaching.  

The project requires students to plan and teach a learning segment of 3-5 lessons (can be whole group or small group; small group will undoubtedly work best this fall) and then assess and reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching. Candidates will gather baseline information (e.g., student needs, interests, prior knowledge, performance on prerequisite tasks), administering an interest inventory and a pre-assessment, the results of which will inform their planning, teaching, and assessment. 

edTPA expects students to include specific accommodations for students in certain groups (i.e., students with IEPs/504 plans and ELLs), so it will be important for you to share your students’ plans/goals with the candidate. (Note: Candidates are NOT going to be identifying any students by name;  we are highly sensitive to the need for confidentiality.) If you don’t have ELLS or students with IEPs/504s in your class, please help the candidate identify some other students with particular learning needs (e.g., less-skilled readers, gifted students) so there can be some differentiation and scaffolding specifically for them. Sign the UNCA Teacher Candidate/Student Teacher Confidential Data Access Agreement.

Resource: Explanation of edTPA

This Quick Guide explains the basics of edTPA.

Setting Up For Success: Important Steps for Beginning the edTPA Process

Below are the things for which Teacher Candidates will need direct help from the Supervising teacher:

  • Identifying the students to be taught. The process will work best if they have a small group of 5-6 students.
  • Identifying a comprehension or composition strategy and the corresponding NCSCOS standard for that topic. Candidates will need to know this topic early in the semester so they can begin planning. Please look at your pacing guide and assign them a standard that you’ll be teaching between October 5th and 23rd, as that is our teaching window. I know this is tricky in the best of situations and more complicated now, but doing our best to hit this window is important because candidates have a lot of work to do in order to complete the second and third edTPA tasks once the lessons are taught. Our semester ends on 11/20, so everything we’re doing is compressed into a tight time span.
  • Helping the candidate gather student information that will inform their teaching (e.g., IEP/504 goals, interest inventory results, formative assessment data related to the topic/prior knowledge, etc.).
  • Navigating video/recording permission forms. Send parents or guaridans opt-out permission forms so only families who do not want their children in the videos will need to return them. A digital version will be used
  • Helping the candidate with navigating the technology platform you use and figuring out the process for recording the lessons.
  • Sharing ideas, resources, existing lesson plans, and anything that will help the candidate complete the portfolio

Video: Acceptable Supervising Teacher Support During the edTPA Process

Resource: Teachers Who Support Teacher Candidates

This is the go to Quick Guide for Supervising Teachers who are supporting Teacher Candidates through the edTPA Process.

Resource: Making Good Choices

This support guide will help you make good choices as you develop artifacts and commentaries for your edTPA assessment. This document is not a substitute for reading the handbook. Instead, it should be used as a reference where you can find supplementary advice for completing specific components of edTPA as needed.

Each section of this document addresses key decision points that you will encounter as you complete your edTPA. Use the live links from the questions in the Key Decisions chart to locate the corresponding answers. Bold text provides specific directions to help guide your decision-making.

Overall, Making Good Choices examines edTPA tasks within an interactive cycle of planning, instruction, and assessment. This document will help you think about how to plan, instruct, assess, and reflect on student learning, not only for completing edTPA, but also for effective teaching into the future. We encourage you to discuss areas where you need additional support with your teacher preparation instructors and examine relevant Making Good Choices sections together.

edTPA Handbooks

(*This link is for UNC Asheville Faculty:  Note that you must have an established account in order to log in and download a Handbook.)  Teacher Candidates will be given access to a Handbook through Taskstream at the beginning of their professional year. Teacher Candidates need to share the Handbook with the Supervising Teacher. The Handbook is specific to the licensure area. Typically if someone has a question, the answer can be found in the Handbook; look there first.

Learn More: Resources Included in this Module