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For the past three semesters, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh student teachers have achieved a 98-percent pass rate on the edTPA—Educative Teacher Performance Assessment—a crucial step in gaining endorsement for Wisconsin licensure.

“The high pass rate not only speaks to the UW Oshkosh students’ diligent commitment to becoming effective teachers for PK-12 students, but also to their dedication to professional learning and respect for the fundamental responsibility inherent in their choice of career,” said Penny Buckley, UWO Center for Additional Teacher Licensing director.

The edTPA, developed by Stanford University, has been used to access teacher candidates since 2013. In 2015, 72 percent of 18,000 students nationally scored high enough to pass.

“The edTPA success rate for students in UW Oshkosh’s College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) is something that we are all very proud of and it is evidence of the quality teacher education program that is available at UW Oshkosh,” said COEHS interim dean Elizabeth Alderton.

“Students work incredibly hard throughout their entire program to learn and understand the teaching cycle of planning, instruction and assessment, and their efforts are evident in the success rate,” she said.

The edTPA is a subject-specific, multiple-measure assessment of teaching–built and submitted by the teacher candidates

Artifacts and commentaries include unedited video recordings of candidates teaching and examples of teaching materials (lesson plans, instructional tools, student assessments) that demonstrate how candidates planned instruction, made modifications for diverse learners, assessed student learning, developed academic language and analyzed their teaching.

Buckley said UW Oshkosh students are seeing an increase in the percent of first-attempt pass rates due to an increased knowledge base and comfort with the edTPA and the support they receive throughout the Professional Education Program.

“Faculty and staff provide course experiences to students throughout the program, such as opportunities to practice planning lessons, videotape instruction and analyze both student learning and personal teaching, she said. “Practicums and clinical experiences allow students authentic practice in the field coupled with training and feedback on the practice edTPA.”

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