Fall 2011

1. Fall 2011 TPA introduction

2. Background of TPACTeacher Performance Assessment Consortium 2008- In Minnesota, work to redesign the program approval system (PEPER) began. A team of BOT staff, MACTE representatives, and MDE representatives were charged with: • Developing a comprehensive system for continuing program approval that is based measures of candidate competence and performance data • Developing a system of program approval that will allow for data analysis to inform policy discussions and decisions as well as practices at the institutional level Teacher Performance Handbook

3. At the same time, AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) was working with Stanford University (CA), investigating their teacher performance assessment and began a nation wide campaign to adopt the TPAC as the teacher performance assessment of choice. • MN AACTE reps (MACTE reps) sat on PEPER redesign committee to develop PERCA: Program Effectiveness Reports for Continuing Approval – the TPA sits at the heart of this structure.

4. TPA will be used by all Minnesota institutions preparing teachers. • Field tests are being done in the Fall of 2011 • In the spring of 2012, all students will be required to do a TPA activity • Eventually the results will be used for preapproval of programs Teacher Performance Handbook

5. Why TPA? • In the past, each institution of teacher education used their own method to evaluate student teachers • These evaluations were varied but in most cases: Emphasis was primarily on the student teacher’s performance rather than the impact that the student teacher’s actions had on the learners in the classroom Teacher Performance Handbook

6. What does TPA look like? • The TPA consists primarily of a series of Teaching Events, a multiple-measure assessment system documenting teaching and learning in 3- to 5-day learning segments for one class of students. • The Teaching Event is done during student teaching. Teacher Performance Handbook

7. Teaching Events are subject specific, with separate forms for multiple-subject (elementary) and single-subject (secondary) credential areas. • The specific records of practice, or evidence, in the Teaching Event consist of artifacts of teaching : lesson plans video clips of instruction student work samples teacher assignments daily reflections reflective commentaries that explain the professional judgments underlying the artifacts.

8. The packet = 4 tasks • TPA handbooks that are specific to elementary and secondary levels • Elementary literacy* • Elementary math* • Secondary math • Secondary social science/history • Secondary science • Secondary English-Language Arts • World Languages and PE • Music *Choice of the candidate after speaking with advisor and/or university supervisor Teacher Performance Handbook

9. Task 1: Planning instruction and assessment Completed Context for Learning form Lesson plans for the learning segment Instructional materials Assessment tools and criteria Planning Commentary Daily Reflections Teacher Performance Handbook

10. Planning commentary • Is a 7-9 single spaced page commentary that addresses the prompts found in the handbook • Big ideas of the content • Describe what you know about your students with respect to this content focus, what they can do as well as what they are learning to do. • The commentary also considers the variety of learners in the class, including individuals and subgroups requiring different strategies. Include how this knowledge influences the choices of instructional strategies to promote student learning of this content. Teacher Performance Handbook

11. Reflection • Indicate how specific research/theory guided your selection of specific strategies and materials to help your students develop the skills and strategies for comprehending and/or composing text needed to meet the learning objectives. • What is working? What is not? For whom? Why? (Consider teaching and student learning with respect to both content and academic language development.) • How does this reflection inform what you plan to do in the next lesson? • Submit daily reflections in a document separate from the commentary. Daily reflections are not included when calculating the page range indicated above for the commentary. Teacher Performance Handbook

12. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE • Academic language is the oral and written language needed by students to understand and communicate in the academic disciplines for specific purposes and audiences. • Academic language often requires the inclusion of context information to make the meaning clear for a distant audience. It has long been accompanied by visuals such as illustrations and charts, and is beginning to incorporate multi-media as well as oral and written forms. Teacher Performance Handbook

13. How do we help? • Our lesson plan used in Pedagogy and possibly other courses related to the program reflect the elements in the TPA suggested format • Journal entries become more focused leading up to the teaching event • Prompts are a part of the journaling so that students are prepared for the narratives that will be done during the learning event • Require students to do a Context for Learning activity this fall

14. Task 2.Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning The Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning task asks student teachers to demonstrate how they facilitate students’ developing understanding Teacher Performance Handbook

15. Academic Language • Academic language genres include the specialized vocabulary, linguistic features, and textual resources associated with genres within a field (e.g., literary criticism, explanations of historical phenomena, lab reports). Teacher Performance Handbook

16. Academic language cont. • It also includes instructional language needed to participate in learning and assessment tasks, including discussing ideas and asking questions, summarizinginstructional and disciplinary texts, following and giving instructions, listening to a mini-lesson, explaining thinking aloud, giving reasons for a point of view, and answering multiple-choice questions or writing essays to display knowledge on tests.

17. Videotaped classroom teaching • Provide one or two video clips ofno more than fifteen minutes total. Selected clip(s) that demonstrate how the student teacher engages students in developing their understanding of specific skills and strategies to comprehend or compose text. Teacher Performance Handbook

18. Instruction Commentary • Write a commentary of 2-4 single-spaced pages (including prompts) that addresses the following prompts. • In the instruction seen in the clip(s), describe strategies you used to engage students in learning tasks to develop skills and strategies to comprehend or compose text. • Cite examples of strategies aimed at engaging all your students and examples aimed at engaging specific individuals or subgroups. If you described any of these fully in the lesson plans or the planning commentary, just reference the relevant description. • How did these strategies reflect students’ academic or language development, social/emotional development, or cultural and lived experiences? Teacher Performance Handbook

19. How are we helping? • Students are being videotaped at least once this fall • Students will view their videotaped lesson and comment • Ideally, the videotaped comments will be used with the mid-term and final self-evaluation that is done • School settings are being exposed to the videotaping requirement

20. Task 3. Assessing Student Learning The Assessment of Student Learning task asks you to assess student achievement, diagnose student learning strengths and needs, and inform instruction. You will provide evidence of your ability to: • 1) develop evaluation criteria that are aligned with your big idea or essential question, standards, and learning objectives; • 2) analyze student performance on an assessment in relation to student needs and the identified learning objectives; • 3) provide feedback to students; and • 4) use the analysis to identify next steps in instruction for the whole class and individual students. Teacher Performance Handbook

21. Select two students as focus students whose learning you will discuss in more depth. • You may choose one or both of the students whose work samples were already submitted or choose two different students. However, at least one of the students must be a student with identified learning needs, e.g., an English Language Learner, a student with an IEP, or a student identified as gifted. If either of these students is not included among the three for whom you already submitted samples, provide the work sample and label it Work Sample 4 or (if needed) Work Sample 5. • If you do not have any students with identified needs, select a student who is challenged by academic English, who usually struggles with the content OR who usually needs a greater challenge. (RARE) Teacher Performance Handbook

22. What are we doing with this one? • Little this fall formally but… • One journal will be in the “spirit” of being problem solving • In your visits, it would be helpful if you could ask or even view some of their student’s work and then ask, “What are your thoughts on how to help this student?”

23. Task 4.Final Retrospective Reflection • The Final Retrospective Reflection task asks you to reflect on your experiences teaching the learning segment and to consider what you have learned about your teaching and the learning of your students. You will provide evidence of your ability to examine your teaching and propose changes that support the learning of your diverse students. Teacher Performance Handbook

24. What are we doing? • Asking student teachers to revisit their videotape at the end of their experience • Review their portfolio entries • Include their growth areas and places needed for improvement at the end of their experience • Write more about their performance in their final self-evaluation

25. Schedule-Why? • Student teachers will need to lead up to the teaching event • Cooperating teachers may find it easier to mentor the student teacher if a suggested schedule is given • This fall, we wanted to “ease” everyone into the idea that the student teaching experience will have to have some structure Teacher Performance Handbook

26. What will spring 2012 look like? • The schedule will be more detailed so that student teachers can stay on track • The student teachers will be required to do a teaching packet that will be assessed by outside scorers • The portfolio will probably be replaced by TaskStream • We will probably all be entering data into TaskSteam

27. Ramifications for University Supervisors in the Spring Scaffolding can occur in seeing: • Journals before the teaching event • Student teachers can do a “practice” video before the actual teaching event • Lesson plans should be previewed before the teaching events • You may be using some online materials to give your feedback to students