Examining the relationship between the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment and preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge

This study examined the relationship between preservice teachers' Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) scores, the most widely implemented preservice teacher performance assessment in the United States, and the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) levels reflected in their edTPA portfolios. PCK is a specialized form of teacher professional knowledge widely considered a paramount construct of teacher quality. Thirty-six preservice science teachers' PCK levels were determined by analyzing their edTPA portfolios, including videos and written commentaries, with the PCK mapping approach, an enumerative analytical method capable of quantifying and visualizing the integration of PCK components. Data analysis indicates there was a significant positive correlation between participants' edTPA scores and their PCK levels (r_s[36] = 0.949, p < 0.0001). Through further analysis, this study also identified several key features of preservice teachers' PCK revealed in their edTPA portfolios: (1) preservice science teachers' Knowledge of Student's Understanding (KSU) and Knowledge of Instructional Strategies and Representations (KISR) were the most developed components of PCK; (2) accounting for over 50% of all connections between PCK components, KSU, KISR, and Knowledge of Assessments were among the most frequently integrated components of PCK; (3) Knowledge of Science Curriculum was the least frequently integrated, and therefore the weakest, component of preservice teachers' PCK; and (4) inquiry was the most frequently mentioned, and typically the only Orientation toward Teaching Science found in participants' edTPA materials. This study contributes to the growing body of scholarship on the characteristics of preservice science teachers' PCK and becomes one of only a handful of empirical studies that examine the edTPA's diagnostic abilities. Finally, potential implications regarding the edTPA in science teacher education, as well as directions for future research surrounding preservice science teacher PCK and PCK development, are discussed.