Ready2Teach FAQ
1. Who is eligible to participate in the Ready2Teach program at APSU?
Students who have successfully completed Milestone 3 in the teacher preparation process.
2. What is the benefit of Ready2Teach?
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For teacher candidates, it offers a full year of in-classroom experience to prepare for a professional teaching career.
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For partner schools, it adds a trained educator as a co-teacher to help students achieve to their fullest potential.
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For mentor teachers, it allows professional development to embrace the latest techniques proven to improve student achievement.
3. How does the edTPA represent “authentic teaching practices”?
The edTPA is designed to align with the authentic teaching practice of the teacher candidate. First, the tasks are integrated (that is, the learning goals, the instruction, and the student assessment are linked together) as they would be in the authentic work of a teacher. Second, each edTPA task requires the candidates to collect and submit direct evidence from the actual work of teaching, for example student work samples or video recording of the candidates engaged in instruction and interacting with students around the content learning goals. Third, the tasks represent not only the behaviors of the teacher, but also include the impact of the instruction on student learning as demonstrated through an analysis of student learning. And fourth, the instructional tasks are considered within the context of the subject matter content and learning goals. Given that the structure of teacher licensing in each state uses subject matter discipline or content specific categories, teacher candidates are seeking a license in a particular content field. Thus, this criterion aligns with the authentic work of teaching within a specific content-area.
4. Is the edTPA required for teacher licensure?
Yes. The Tennessee State Board of Education requires the passing of the edTPA for
teacher licensure.
5. What is the passing score for APSU?
The cut score is 42 for Fall semester 2017. The Retake Policy states that scores below
42 must remediate to obtain a passing score, so that licensure requirements are met.
Students will have to resubmit any tasks not meeting the minimum requirements to Pearson,
the national scoring company.
6. How does the edTPA assessment prepare candidates for being a teacher of record
in their own classroom?
The edTPA correlates well to the TEAM (Tennessee Educator Assessment Model) evaluation,
which prepares APSU teacher candidates to prepare for their actual teaching experiences
before and after graduation. Good teaching involves appropriate planning, explicit
instruction, and thoughtful assessment; the edTPA allows teacher candidates to demonstrate
their proficiency in all certified areas.