Consolidación y actualización de datos complementarios

Case Study responses have been reported throughout this chapter. In this section, the whole of the TPA and ST experience was emphasized. Case study candidates were asked whether scores derived from the TPA reflected their perception of their teaching readiness and whether they found the TPA to be a true measure of their teaching ability. One difficulty with data collection and analysis was that TPA scores were not reported to the university nor to candidates prior to the term end. Therefore, candidates were asked to provide views without knowing scores or pass rates.

Findings.

Interviews reveal that candidates perceived the TPA to be disconnected from teaching and a “hoop” in achieving licensure. Conversely, candidates also responded that the process of completing the TPA was formative in their understanding of the practice of teaching.

The TPA is a “hoop” toward licensure.

Every candidate interviewed (100%) expressed a view that the TPA was not an authentic assessment of their teaching. Reports of the formative value of the experience were mixed but that “it was just a hoop that I needed to jump through” was universal (Jennifer, Phase 4). Below are excerpts from interviews:

 “In the end, for me personally, I don’t feel like the TPA was something that made me a better teacher. It was just a hoop that I needed to jump through. I am not saying that is necessarily wrong [be]cause there needs to be standards but I put more stock by far into how my professors think I am doing; how my supervisor and mentors think I am doing” (Jennifer, Phase 4).

 “It doesn’t really evaluate how I will teach. It is just a small hoop. I guess the balance between learning and accountability. … I guess for me it felt a lot like accountability. I really did. I felt like ‘Alright I just need to get these lesson plans done and they need to look good,’ on paper. And then this one video clip has to practically be staged. I mean it has to look good. I’ve got to get my smart students talking and saying it with academic language and if I don’t I am toast and so there was a lot of planning into how can I make this perfect. But really it is like, there is no way, there is no way that I can teach like this. So, yah, definitely a lot more about accountability” (Jason, Phase 4).

 “It’s a little bit like jumping through hoops, but at the same time we’re responsible for students’ futures and their education so I think that it’s fair to expect that we can do all these things” (Jane, Phase 1).

 “It’s a little difficult because I feel like I am not as focused on my student teaching as I could be. I feel like so much of my energy is directed at writing these extensive lesson plans and writing up for the commentaries that I don’t get to spend as much time in the

classroom. Even now, like the fact that [Sterner] has pulled us out of our classes to write this just shows how much our energy is more focused on the TPA than it is on our classes, which is unfortunate, because I really miss my kids and I want to get back to my classes but I have, you know, four more pages to write so that is not a possibility at the moment” (Jill, Phase 3).

 “I just found it frustrating that while I was teaching the TPA I really felt like I wasn’t focused on my students at all. I was just focused on, ‘Is the technology going to work? Do I have both of the cameras recording in case something goes wrong? I can have both of them and what happens if they malfunction? And am I collecting all the evidence that I need rather than focusing on my students actually understanding this?’ So it was really hard for me professionally, as well” (Jane, Phase 4).

In her interview, Jackie reiterated comments in Phase 2 that success could be “faked.” Her attitude about the process demonstrates that candidates felt the requirements of the TPA were disconnected from the actual practice of teaching. Below is an excerpt from that interview:

Jackie: “I think [the focus is] definitely the licensure part – completing the tasks by jumping through the hoops was much more important than learning how to be a good teacher.” Researcher: “Okay, and why would you say that?”

Jackie: “Well because you can fake the teaching part, kind of. I mean, you are writing a lesson and that is something that you, I mean, obviously the parts you are not going to miss are the parts that they require. In the lesson plan and the video, you can tape as many times as you want with or without however many kids, so you are not learning how to do anything. You are just, giving [scorers what they want to see or] going to start over and over.”

Jennifer describes the process as a game, “my kids were great. They were so angelic and just played the game and they did it well” (Phase 3). Of her own performance, Jennifer reflects that the TPA in ST, “Not only seemed redundant but at times it seemed to come in conflict [with]

expectations of my mentors and the schools … if we are talking in terms of relationships and being creative and being there for your students. I felt like it pulled me away” (Phase 4). She goes on to explain that:

The two or three weeks that I was probably least effective at my job was the weeks where I was planning and writing and doing the TPA because I was so concerned about all these nitpicky little things the TPA is going to want and trying to jump through the TPA hoop that I lost connections with my kids. (Phase 4)

The feeling that the time spent on the TPA took away from time spent teaching increased candidate perception that the TPA was less about teaching performance and more about writing to the prompts or capturing the right kind of evidence on the video. All of the candidates interviewed, to varying degrees, expressed the view that the TPA, rather than an embedded and authentic

performance of assessment of their teaching, was a detached and sometimes arbitrary evaluation. The most significant factor that caused candidate experience to vary (and candidate attitude toward the TPA to be most negative) was the relationship between the candidate and the mentor (see VE 11).

Teacher formation.

When asked about the formative experience of the TPA, each (100%) of the candidates indicated that they did grow or learn something valuable about teaching in the TPA process. Jason expressed mixed views of the value of the TPA in ST. In the first three phases, he was critical of the TPA but in his summative reflection he states:

I didn’t like it, but there were good things. I retract my last statement [from last interview] that I didn’t care for it. It is not a bad assessment piece but tell someone that they need to do this for every lesson [and it] is completely and utterly unrealistic, and you should be fired from your job, because obviously you have never taught in a classroom before. (Phase 4) Jason’s change of perspective is, at least in part, a result of discussions he had with his mentor about the TPA experience. He goes on to say:

Me and my mentor teacher actually talked about this, too, and I think the one good thing …is the self-reflection piece. ... And I mean we do that a lot now, more so, we think about, ‘okay how could this lesson have gone better? What do we need to do to catch these kids up? Or, where can we move now or do we need to go back and do something else?’… Another thing was academic language, I guess. We just call it vocab. …We are doing a lot of vocab-oriented steps, especially with math because math is just huge on vocabulary…. Then the final piece was a little bit [of] differentiation. My mentor teacher didn’t think about it that much but now that I told him that we have to have this in here now, we are thinking about it more. ‘How can we catch so-and-so up? What can we do to help him out? Should we talk with his specialist or resource room teacher and collaborate with them?’ …. So we are thinking about that and trying to do better. (Phase 4)

Support to validity.

Candidates found that the process of completing the TPA helped them to identify strengths and weaknesses in their teaching practice. Specifically, they felt they grew in their understanding of AL, SV, using assessment to inform instruction, and reflecting on their practice. This process was significantly more beneficial when undertaken along with the mentor in a co-teaching setting.

Threat to validity.

Participants uniformly agreed that they did not view the TPA as an authentic measure of their teaching practice (see also VE 7). The evidence shows that candidates feel like the TPA overwhelms the ST experience. Rather than an integrated component or, as was the intention expressed in the handbook (see Chapter two) and a source of formative feedback for growth, it took away from learning. One candidate explains, “The TPA should be during the semester before student teaching. That way it wouldn’t interfere with student teaching” (TPA Completer, 3/22/12, emphasis added). Each case study candidate described the TPA as a “hoop” during the course of their interviews in the term. Many candidates used the term “hoop” when describing the TPA requirements in surveys. One illustration from was the candidate response, “This just felt like it was a useless hoop we had to jump through that didn't test how well we could teach, just tested

how well we could vomit up teacher-words and follow a rubric, which doesn't seem to have much to do with real teaching” (TPA Completer, 3/22/12).

Several candidates indicated that the TPA performance could be “faked.” In various ways, case study candidates argued that the TPA was not a reliable indicator of readiness, though it did prove helpful in the formative development of their teaching. In her final interview, Jill was asked if there were any correlations between the strengths and weaknesses she identified in her PGP and her expectations for TPA scores. She responded that, “Kind of, in the sense that it is opposite. I think the TPA shows me as a very stilted, rehearsed, not very calming presence but the kids are really well behaved and the classroom seems very well managed. So it is almost kind of the opposite” (Phase 4).

Inference 5: Decision Making

In document REGISTRO GALLEGO DE TUMORES El Sistema de Información del Cáncer en Galicia (página 107-114)