The June 26-27 meeting of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) continued its deep dive into reviewing and amending teaching performance assessments, the exams that must be passed to obtain a credential, including the approval of the launch of the new Literacy Performance Assessment (LPA) on July 1.
In opening the meeting, Chair Marquita Grenot-Scheyer acknowledged the hard work of district and state leaders for their “unwavering commitment and actions to protect and educate all students regardless of background, zip code or immigration status. … Make no mistake, our new educators are facing challenging times. Class of 2025 graduates will be facing a future of censorship of ideas, history and an intolerance for diversity that is unprecedented. So, in this moment, as I often do, I choose hope and inspiration.”
Literacy
The meeting wrapped up a yearslong project of the commission initiated by Senate Bill 488 (2022), which required the CTC to sunset the current literacy teaching assessment, the Reading Competence Instruction Assessment, and create an LPA more in line with other CTC-approved tests. The commission was also required to update its two other approved assessments — edTPA, led by Evaluations Systems, and Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers (FAST) — to fulfill all requirements of the legislation.
SB 488 requires preparation programs to incorporate evidence-based means of teaching foundational literacy skills; tiered supports; ongoing diagnostic techniques and early intervention; alignment with the State Board of Education’s English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework; the incorporation of the California Dyslexia Guidelines and more. These skills will be assessed through the new LPA, which measures teaching performance expectation elements through video clips and verbal and written commentary.
The LPA continued to be piloted in the field since the April meeting and all but one of the field-tested candidates passed the assessment. Overall, feedback from candidates and program implementers was positive with 84 percent of candidates reporting that the LPA was an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities related to literacy. Surveyed candidates (89 percent) strongly agreed or agreed that the tasks aligned with their coursework and allowed them to demonstrate their abilities to teach foundational reading skills and apply the additional themes from the ELA/ELD Framework.
The edTPA field test, led by Evaluation Systems, saw a pass rate of 96 percent for Multiple Subject Credential candidates and 88 percent for Education Specialist, Literacy: Mild-moderate Support Needs and Extensive Support Needs Credential candidates.
FAST, the commission’s third approved teaching performance assessment, is owned by and approved for administration at California State University, Fresno. At its August 2024 meeting, the commission approved CSU Fresno to pilot a revised version of the FAST for Multiple Subject, FAST 3.0, which consists of the Site Visitation Project (SVP) and the Teaching Sample Project (TSP). Of the 52 Multiple Subjects candidates who submitted an SVP as part of the field test, 46 passed on their first attempt. Five of the six candidates who submitted an Education Specialist SVP passed on their first attempt. Overall, 13 of the 15 candidates who responded indicated they agreed or somewhat agreed they felt prepared to complete the SVP.
All three assessment teams will use feedback to continue to improve the test experience for candidates.
The commission adopted each of the assessments for operational use in the 2025–26 school year with their respective initial passing standards.
In a related action, CTC approved the transmittal of the fourth and final Report to the Legislature on the Implementation of Senate Bill 488 Teacher Credentialing. In addition to updating its literacy and reading instruction standards, the corresponding literacy-related Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs) and creating the new assessment, the bill required the commission to review teacher preparation programs and certify that they are providing curriculum that is in compliance with specific provisions of statute.
A total of 95 institutions submitted literacy coursework for 229 programs. Institutions may offer Multiple Subject, Single Subject, and Education Specialist programs through a variety of pathways which include, but are not limited to, traditional student teaching, intern, residency, concurrent with a bilingual added authorization, and integrated undergraduate, resulting in reviewing 520 program pathways.
Workgroup review of TPAs
Created through legislation, the Workgroup to Review the Design and Implementation of the Teaching Performance Assessment (RDI-TPA) is to ensure that these assessments are valid, authentic, formative in nature, embedded in preparation, suitable for beginning teachers and contribute to program improvement through the accreditation system. The workgroup includes classroom teachers, teacher educators and performance assessment experts.
The RDI-TPA Workgroup presented its final recommendations to the CTC for adoption.
Focus Area 1: An analysis of any modifications needed to current assessments to ensure they are valid and authentic to the work of teaching, reasonable to implement in the wide range of classroom settings across the state, and appropriate for beginning teachers. Recommendations include centering culturally responsive pedagogy, streamlining assessment structure, improving candidate feedback through individualization and ensuring financial accessibility.
Focus Area 2: Embedding assessments into coursework and clinical work to avoid duplicative work for candidates. Recommendations include providing sample sections of the assessment and common issues to candidates, having those resources collected and shared by the CTC and the CTC developing a continuum of practice from preservice through in-service that integrates TPEs and California Standards for the Teaching Profession.
Focus Area 3: Strengthen the accreditation system to ensure programs embed the assessment in coursework and clinical work, offer sufficient clinical and pedagogical support, and support candidates to pass the assessment. Recommendations include adjusting teacher preparation program standards to embed them in TPA tasks, requiring institutions to submit documentation on how they will support credential candidates that have not successfully completed the TPA, and that the CTC establish criteria for identifying lower performing programs.
Focus Area 4: Local scoring of assessments to inform program improvement. Recommendations include requiring faculty and site mentors to engage in local scoring of TPAs and ensuring candidates do not bear any costs.
Focus Area 5: Suggested questions for program completer surveys to understand candidate experience of programmatic support for assessment completion. A new survey was developed to be embedded in all adopted TPAs.
The CTC adopted all of the RDI-TPA Workgroup’s recommendations and directed staff to develop implementation plans based on the recommendations.
Additional CTC items:
- The commission welcomed new member Deborah Erickson as the ex-officio representative of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
- Commissioners adopted the CalTPA Education Specialist – Deaf and Hard of Hearing Math Cycle Test for operational administration in the 2025–26 school year. Also adopted passing standards the test for all credential areas.
The next CTC meeting is scheduled for Aug. 28-29, 2025.
