Clarksville, TN – In 2013, the Austin Peay State University (APSU) Eriksson College of Education became one of the first schools in the country to prepare its students for a new teacher assessment program known as edTPA.
Seven years later, that test is now the national standard for teacher preparation, with 24 states requiring it for teacher licensure, and Austin Peay State University’s education students consistently are scoring above the state and national averages.
“We were one of the early adopters, and because that gave us so many years of preparation, we’ve been able to design really thoughtful support systems for our candidates,” Dr. Lisa Barron, APSU director of teacher education and partnerships, said.
“We’ve been able to put faculty and staff in place to offer the best support, and we’ve been able to embed it into curriculum as the result of the hard work of many, many people,” stated Barron.
Austin Peay State University is now a national leader in preparing teacher candidates for the edTPA test, which is why The Teacher Education Podcast recently hosted an episode, “Navigating edTPA with Dr. Lisa Barron.” With more states adopting the program’s standards, the national podcast examined what other schools can do to mimic APSU’s success.
In addition to her work at Austin Peay State University, Barron is a member of the National Academy of Consultants for edTPA, and she travels around the country helping other universities implement the program’s standards.
“I talked on the podcast about how we’ve done it at Austin Peay State University, how we got the right people in charge of support systems, how we involved our faculty and staff – not only in the College of Education but in colleges across campus,” Barron said. “We have teacher licensure in 20 different areas – English, history, physical education – and all those faculty across campus are engaged with their students in edTPA.”
The podcast also delved into Barron’s background as an elementary school music teacher, and her voice brightened as she talked about how much she loved teaching those students. Her cheerfulness hides the fact that some of these questions caught her off guard.
“It was a little nerve-racking for me,” she said. “I was supposed to be talking about edTPA, and they asked a lot of questions about my career. Then they did this lightning round at the end, where you had to name the favorite book you’ve read in the last five months.”
Her answer? Brené Brown’s book, “Braving the Wilderness.”
During the podcast, Barron gave advice on how other schools can implement edTPA standards, while also sharing some of Austin Peay’s successes.
“I was pleased to do it,” she said. “I was really pleased to highlight the work that’s being done at Austin Peay State University. It wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for the dedicated work literally all across our campus, and the hard work of our students.”
The podcast is available at https://anchor.fm/the-teacher-education-podcast/episodes/8-Navigating-edTPA-with-Dr–Lisa-Barron-edbdtt.
