Teacher evaluation and performativity: The edTPA as a fabrication

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the edTPA as an instance of performativity, as we argue that the edTPA is a display of quality for the purposes of incentive, control, attrition, and change. These displays are moments of productivity that boil down the complex act of teaching to a number, which can be audited by policy makers. Further, we argue that the edTPA is a fabrication, a representation of a teaching practice that does not exist—an evaluative simulacrum. Its purpose is to meet neoliberal accountability demands, not to represent the truth of teaching. Evaluation by external entities produces a performativity that is there simply to be judged within the audit culture. We outline concerns from scholarship and refute claims made by supporters of the assessment. Finally, we offer policy recommendations to the field.

Keywords:

• Assessment
• edTPA
• performativity
• student teaching
• teacher evaluation

Notes

1 Neoliberalism is an ideology that claims, among other things, that social institutions (including public education) are best shaped by competitive market forces.