State Board of Education Considers Changes to edTPA Requirements

Media Contact: Elizabeth Tullos
Elizabeth.Tullos@tn.gov
615-741-0762

At our October quarterly meeting, State Board of Education members considered amending Tennessee’s educator licensure requirements for job-embedded candidates. This change, if approved, would remove the pedagogical edTPA assessment requirements for job-embedded educator licensure candidates.

A job-embedded licensure candidate differs from a traditional licensure candidate in that these individuals have already completed a Bachelor’s degree and serve as the teacher of record in a classroom while actively working on completing educator preparation requirements. Like traditional licensure candidates, job-embedded candidates must still demonstrate expertise in their content area, either by passing content assessments in their area of focus — such as the English language arts PRAXIS exam — or by having completed an undergraduate major in the focus area.

After consultation with districts and other stakeholders across the state, the Board has proposed this policy change to reduce local teacher shortages. The edTPA exam is a performance-based assessment designed to measure educators’ teaching readiness. While the edTPA assessment is crucial for the preparation of traditional educator licensure candidates, the assessment is duplicative for job-embedded candidates who already serve in a classroom full-time and are regularly evaluated by school leadership.

Of Tennessee’s approximately 3,000 new teacher candidates each year, about 800 individuals are considered job-embedded candidates and would benefit from the removal of the edTPA assessment requirement.

The State Board of Education will consider the edTPA policy change on final reading at its February 10, 2023 quarterly meeting. Between first and final reading of the policy, the State Board of Education is soliciting additional feedback from stakeholders, including educator preparation programs, on the proposed policy change.

If approved, this policy change would affect job-embedded candidates in the 2023-24 school year.

###

The Tennessee State Board of Education is a ten-member, governor-appointed and legislatively confirmed board charged under the law with rulemaking and policymaking for K-12 education. Through a close partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education, the Board maintains oversight of K-12 implementation and academic standards.