Ethical, Legal, and Pedagogical Issues in edTPA

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address ethical, legal, and pedagogical issues in the use of edTPA, a mandatory and consequential assessment required for teacher candidates in many states. We discuss issues such as the cost of edTPA, implicit bias in scoring teacher candidates, marginalization in K-12 settings, property rights, privacy, and disconnections between the real classroom and what teacher candidates are asked to do in edTPA. At the end of the paper we make three suggestions. First, edTPA can be used as a learning progression assessment, but not a high-stakes assessment. Second, private publishers should play an assistive role, not a dominant role, in teacher education. Third, educators should examine the rubrics of edTPA within and across disciplines to reduce inappropriate practices.