Reliability and Construct Validity of the edTPA for Music Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric quality of Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) scores for 136 preservice music teachers at a Midwest university. I addressed the factor structure of the edTPA for music education, the extent to which the edTPA fits the one- and three-factor a priori models proposed by the test authors, and the reliability of edTPA scores awarded to music education students. Factor analysis did not support the a priori one-factor model around teacher readiness, or the three-factor model based on the edTPA tasks of Planning, Instruction, and Assessment. Internal consistency was acceptable for all rubrics together and for the Instruction task. However, estimates of interrater reliability fell substantially below those reported by test administrators. These findings indicate the need for revision of the edTPA for music education and call into question its continued use among music teacher candidates in its current form.