For more information, press only:
Adam Gaber, Pearson, 800-745-8489, adam.gaber@pearson.com, @Apgaber (twitter)
New
York City–March 17, 2011– Today at the International Summit on the
Teaching Profession, Stanford University announced that it will
collaborate with Pearson for delivery of the Teacher Performance
Assessment (TPA)—a nationally available, performance-based assessment
for measuring the effectiveness of teacher candidates.
The TPA was developed by a team of Stanford researchers led by Drs. Linda Darling-Hammond and Raymond Pecheone.
The work was grounded in the successful experiences of developing
performance assessments for licensing of teachers in California. The
development was supported by a consortium of more than 20 states and
their state departments of education, licensure boards, and institutions
of higher education, as well as the American Association of Colleges of
Teacher Education (AACTE).
“Developing teacher effectiveness is
as important as measuring it,” noted Dr. Darling-Hammond. “Studies have
concluded that not only do performance assessments predict teachers’
later effectiveness, they also can help teachers improve their
practice.”
The Teacher Performance Assessment
The
TPA features the Teaching Event, focusing on student-teaching
experiences over a 3–5 day learning segment with a class of students.
Throughout the learning segment candidates organize and submit evidence
of their teaching (e.g., video clips of instruction, lesson plans,
student work samples, teacher assignments, daily reflections) to create
their own personal Teaching Event portfolio.
Based on the
submitted evidence, which is later scored by trained evaluators, faculty
and candidates can discuss how various classroom activities impact
student learning. Faculty can examine this evidence and analyze their
students’ scores across several dimensions of teaching to evaluate and
improve their programs.
“The TPA responds to the need for added
focus on classroom-practice based assessment,” says Dr. Sharon P.
Robinson, President and Chief Executive Officer of AACTE. “As a
nationally available, performance-based instrument, the TPA provides an
enhanced information base to guide the improvement of teacher
preparation programs and the teacher candidates they train. The
membership of AACTE is appreciative of this opportunity to bring TPA to
our professional community.”
The TPA pilot project is occurring during the 2010–2011 school year, with increased field testing in 2011–2012. Once field testing is complete, it is expected states may begin using the TPA to satisfy their licensure requirements.
Pearson’s Role
Pearson
will provide Stanford University with the capability to deliver the TPA
nationally via a web-based platform that allows for electronic
submission and nationwide scoring of the assessment.
“One of our
goals at Pearson is to do all we can to help policymakers and
practitioners effectively deploy digital innovations to transform public
education,” said Douglas Kubach, Chief Executive Officer of Pearson’s
Assessment and Information Group. “Through a uniform process for
capturing and scoring teacher performance in authentic classroom
settings, we can ensure the comparability and reliability of results to
enable TPA to become a national standard for evaluating teacher
effectiveness and building teacher capacity.”
Dr. Raymond Pecheone, Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE)
who has helped lead the design of the TPA assessment, noted about the
collaboration with Pearson: “We are pleased to begin working with
Pearson as we forge ahead with the nationwide delivery of a student
centered performance assessment of teaching. Pearson brings innovation,
capacity and experience to deliver and support scoring of a highly
reliable and valid assessment of teaching that is aligned to the
teaching standards of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support
Consortium (INTASC) and Common Core Standards.”
About Stanford University School of Education
Aiming towards the ideal of enabling all people to achieve maximum benefit from their educational experiences, the Stanford University School of Education
seeks to continue as a world leader in ground-breaking,
cross-disciplinary inquiries that shape educational practices, their
conceptual underpinnings, and the professions that serve the enterprise.
About Pearson
Pearson
(NYSE:PSO), the global leader in education and education technology,
provides teacher licensure testing, teacher professional development,
career certification programs, testing and assessment products,
innovative print and digital education materials for preK through
college, student information systems and learning management systems
that set the standard for the industry. Pearson’s other primary
businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For
more information about the Assessment & Information group of
Pearson, visit http://www.pearsonassessments.com/.