Bending or Breaking: Appropriating edTPA Policy in Special Education Teacher Education

The Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) has been widely adopted in schools of higher education across the United States. Different state education departments have set policies, to varying degrees, that determine the outcomes for passing the edTPA, with some requiring a passing score to obtain licensure. As a result of the high-stakes nature of the edTPA, teacher education programs are taking steps to support teacher candidates as they navigate this process. The adoption of edTPA, however, is not without obstacles and has become complicated in the process of implementation. The purpose of this study is to report on a policy analysis of the edTPA in special education using a Critical Practice Approach. Researchers sought to find answers to the following questions: (a) What were the negotiations, decisions, and actions taken by special education teacher education programs in their efforts to appropriate the edTPA policy? and (b) To what extent did the appropriation process foster or empower “participation agency in the democratic production of policy?” Data were collected through in-depth phenomenological interviews with special education teacher educators in three different institutions. Findings suggest that teacher educators at each institution engaged in three general types of appropriation activities that were central to their efforts; embedding, co-opting, and reifying. This critical practical policy analysis helped to identify ways in which the edTPA policy appropriation process was and was not democratic and participatory; a process that recognizes contributions, expertise, and experience of local appropriators as well as factors that characterize the local context.