In its first meeting of the year, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing on Feb. 10–11 took on a packed agenda that contained updates on work relating to early childhood education, rich discussions about the use of Teacher Performance Assessments (TPAs), and early steps in creating a new literacy performance assessment for teacher candidates.
CTC staff gave an update on the work building multiple key pieces of infrastructure to support the transition of the preparation and licensure of the early childhood workforce to a competency-based system similar to that of all other credentials. Participants in the ECE Workgroup were appointed in early December 2021 and include representatives from local educational agencies, institutes of higher education and nonprofit organizations, including CSBA Legislative Director Chris Reefe.
The workgroup will provide recommendations to the CTC regarding the requirements for the proposed PK-3 ECE Specialist Credential, and the multiple pathways and options for meeting these requirements. The first year the ECE Specialist Credential will be available is the 2023–24 school year.
Currently, four ECE pilot programs are being implemented at 59 two- and four-year institutions of higher education. The pilots are focused on implementing Teaching Performance Expectations (TPE)-aligned curriculum and working toward meeting program standards; developing, piloting and field testing a TPE-based ECE Teaching Performance Assessment; and developing an ECE program quality review process.
Commissioner Kathryn Williams Browne referred to the quick timeline of the development. “It’s important to note that in August of 2023, it won’t be perfect yet, but we’re going to work towards making it better,” Browne said. “And it’ll take time. As long as we are both equity-advancing and justice-centered, with persistence, we’ll get there.”
CTC staff presented score results from the last three years (2018–21) of implementation of Commission-approved performance assessments — the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA), the edTPA and the Fresno Assessment for Student Teachers (FAST).
The CalTPA measures candidate competency in the California TPE, which identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities that a teacher should demonstrate at the beginning of a teaching career; edTPA is a subject-specific performance assessment; and FAST is a Commission-approved TPA model designed and used exclusively by California State University, Fresno.
CalTPA showed a declining passing rate through the three years, partly due to program standard re-evaluation and partly due to difficulties attributed to the pandemic. The 2020–21 passage rate was 89 percent. The edTPA saw similar patterns, with an 83 percent passage rate in 2020–21. The FAST program saw an increase each year, with 97.3 percent of candidates passing in 2020–21. Program representatives attributed this high rate to the complete integration of the TPAs into the preparation program.
The disaggregated data showed that compared to other candidate groups, African American candidates were passing the edTPA at lower rates. Commissioners questioned this data and discussed the appropriateness of the high-stakes way TPAs are used.
“When I looked at the data and the groups of students who have low scores here — we have lessons learned here, which I think will benefit our work in the future,” said CSBA President and CTC Commissioner Dr. Susan Heredia. “When we see these scores in year one, we shouldn’t wait until year three to address it. The data from year one should be an immediate red flag. I’m especially concerned because I don’t want certain groups of students to get discouraged.”
CTC staff indicated they were looking at educator preparation programs across the country and finding similar patterns. They are, however, identifying and studying outlier programs where larger numbers of African American candidates are passing similar tests.
In another TPA item, commissioners approved several recommended actions related to educator candidates obtaining multiple credentials. The commission directed staff to disseminate regulations that require educators to pass only a single TPA; adopted the recommendations that teachers who hold different credential types can have their clear credential accepted in place of a TPA; and amended prior action specifying which TPA should be taken by candidates seeking multiple credentials. The new requirement in its place is that a candidate consult with their program to determine which is the most appropriate TPA.
Senate Bill 488 dictates that, beginning July 1, 2025, the current version of the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) will no longer be required, instead requiring that the CTC develop and implement a literacy instruction performance assessment that assesses Multiple Subject and Education Specialist credential candidates for competence in instruction in literacy.
CTC staff presented the first draft of the program resource guide, which compiles and synthesizes content and pedagogical expectations from multiple state documents including the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework, the Common Core standards for ELA/Literacy, the California State Literacy Plan and California Dyslexia Guidelines. Staff noted that they are working on incorporating the English Learner Roadmap and other EL resources into the document.
The guide identifies the teaching knowledge, skills and abilities needed to provide literacy instruction and will inform the development of the literacy performance assessment and teacher preparation programs. The guide will be further refined with current feedback and then will be released for a field review.