Diana Lys, the School of Education’s recently named assistant dean for program assessment, accreditation and teacher preparation, talks about implementation of the edTPA teacher candidate assessment tool in a profile published by EducationNC.
EdTPA is a more rigorous and more relevant assessment of teacher candidates. Carolina’s School of Education, East Carolina and Winston-Salem State have led implementation of edTPA in North Carolina. Lys, who previously worked at East Carolina, has been deeply involved in implementing the assessment and in helping expand its use across the state, and across the country.
“Accountability in higher education is sharpening its focus on teacher preparation programs and their graduates,” Lys tells EdNC. “No longer can teacher preparation programs claim their graduates are well prepared; they must also demonstrate that their graduates can positively impact PK-12 student achievement.”
Lys says that implementing edTPA in teacher-preparation programs can’t be rushed.
“It is essential for faculty to understand and support the use of edTPA, since it will replace ‘homegrown’ assessments, it will set a clear bar for teacher candidates, and it requires even closer working relationships with PK-12 partners, as mentioned earlier,” she says.