Enriching Their Potential: Supporting Black Male Teacher Candidates in the Age of edTPA

ABSTRACT

Intense pressure from multiple stakeholders has forced teacher preparation programs (TPPs) to investigate better methods to prepare teacher candidates to enter classrooms and instruct students on day one. Part of this increased level of accountability has resulted in the formation of teacher evaluative assessments as state licensure exams. One licensure exam sweeping across TPPs in the United States is edTPA. This portfolio-based assessment has garnered an assortment of national support from top policy makers, educators, and teacher accountability advocates, but it has also raised concerns over the potential racial bias that standardized assessments have against teacher candidates of color. This concern comes at a juncture where the nation is seeing modest gains in the number of Black male teacher candidates entering the teaching profession. Building upon prior research (2019) findings, our study provides tangible approaches and a framework for TPPs to utilize to better support Black male teacher candidates in completing edTPA. Additionally, we intend to present explicit recommendations for TPP decision makers and university faculty regarding how both employ edTPA support services to bolster the number of highly effective Black male teacher candidates who enter and successfully matriculate through a teacher preparation program.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John A. Williams

John A. Williams III is an Assistant Professor of Multicultural Education at Texas A&M University at College Station. His research focuses on developing and replicating best practices, policies, and personnel to dismantle inequitable discipline outcomes for Black students in K-12 school environments.

Chance W. Lewis

Chance W. Lewis is the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additionally, Dr. Lewis is the Executive Director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Urban Education Collaborative which is publishing a new generation of research on improving urban schools.