An interview with Linda Darling-Hammond was recently featured in the May issue of ASCD‘s Educational Leadership journal. The interview, entitled The Challenges of Supporting New Teachers, provides insights into the preparation and support new teachers require, touching on the role of performance assessment prior to and during the first few years of teaching. The full article can be reviewed by clicking the link: The Challenges of Supporting New Teachers

It is important to offer comments regarding the work our colleagues have been engaged in to produce a nationally available performance assessment. A recent New York Times column positioned the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) as motivated or inspired by the commercial interests of one of the major test publishers. AACTE regards the TPA quite differently, viewing it as the result of hard work to create an essential tool using professional consensus. AACTE President and CEO Sharon P. Robinson, Ed.D., expanded on this perspective in a recent letter entitled “The Professional Community and the TPA.”

AACTE has also provided answers to common questions about the TPA here. We look forward to working together with you as colleagues to continue moving educator preparation toward program outcomes we are confident will push the needle on student achievement.

Pearson’s press release announces that the field test for the Teacher Performance Assessment is under way. Pearson anticipates receiving nearly 10,000 candidate submissions from participating educator preparation programs across 25 states and 180 educator preparation programs. To view the press release in full, please click the following link:Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) Field Test Underway