Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/11/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am currently trying to get my teaching license in the state of REMOVED. One requirement for gaining licensure is to have a qualifying score on the edTPA in a specific subject area. I completed the edTPA for School Librarian/ Media Specialist for the first time on October 6th, 2022, but I did not pass because I received "Condition Codes" for Task 3. I resubmitted on November 3rd and received a score of 37, which did not meet the state requirement of a 40 or higher. On December 15th, I submitted a retake of only Task 1 in hopes of gaining the 3 points needed to pass. When I received my scores for this attempt on January 5th, 2023 I saw that all 5 rubrics had either stayed the same, or improved by one point except for one. Rubric 4 "Supporting Student Academic Language Use" which received a 3 on the November 3rd submission dropped a point to a 2 on the December 15th submission, despite the fact that I did not change anything in that section when I resubmitted it. This meant that my total score was 39, just one point below the minimum passing requirement. I contacted edTPA customer support and was told that I could either pay $200 for a score confirmation, or $100 to retake Task 1 again. I was also told multiple times that "The scorers are carefully monitored during scoring activities to maintain high quality and consistency in scoring across portfolios". One would think that this means that if I get a 3 on a section once, I would receive a 3 every time I submit that response. Apparently this is not the case. The edTPA rubrics are so vague and subjective in their definitions of success that two graders can see the exact same response and give different scores. It would take someone at edTPA 30 seconds to compare my responses and see that they are the same for that portion. It is infuriating that my entire future is determined by the score some random person gives me that they do not have to justify at all.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/18/2023

  The edTPA is a performance-based portfolio assessment which requires aspiring teachers to demonstrate readiness to teach through lesson plans designed to support their students' strengths and needs; engage real students in ambitious learning; analyze whether their students are learning; and adjust their instruction to become more effective. Teacher candidates submit unedited video recordings of themselves at work in a real classroom as part of a portfolio that is scored by highly trained educators.
  
  REMOVEDfaculty and staff at the REMOVEDfor Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE)developed edTPA. They received substantive advice and feedback from teachers and teacher educators and drew from experience gained from over 25 years of developing performance-based assessments of teaching, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standards portfolio, and the Performance Assessment for REMOVEDTeachers.
  
  All edTPA assessments are scored according to standardized procedures by qualified scorers. Scorers include teacher educators and qualified teachers and administrators who are recruited and selected because of their documented experience teaching, supporting beginning teachers, and subject-matter knowledge. Each scorer participates in rigorous training to become qualified as an edTPA scorer. The scorers are carefully monitored during scoring activities to maintain high quality and consistency in scoring across portfolios.
  
  All submitted materials are scored according to the rubrics and instructions provided in the assessment handbooks.However, there is a Score Confirmation process in place for candidates. As stated on the edTPA website at www.edtpa.com/PageView.aspx?f=GEN_RequestingAScoreConfirmation.html,if a candidate believes their score on one or more rubrics was reported in error they may request a score confirmation. There is a fee for this service,which is refunded if the score confirmation process results in a score alteration.
  
  It is not possible to honor a request to add an additional point to a scored submission; the score confirmation process outlined on the edTPA website and described to the candidate by edTPA Customer Service is available to the candidate at this time if they chose to pursue it. The edTPA program, therefore,considers this matter resolved and respectfully requests that you close this complaint with notation of proper handling of the underlying incident.