Thoughts on Submitting Original Work

I wanted to remind all Teacher Ed candidates that these assessments are to be your own responses and reflections to the prompts in each TPA task. You may talk and reflect on the prompts within your classes and with a colleague, but you are to complete your TPA without any assistance or input. Your work is to be original in that you are responding to the prompts.

Letter from Jack O'Connell re: Video Taping

At the TPA/Task Stream Faculty meeting held in Visalia on Friday, October 10th, it was suggested that we post the letter from Jack O'Connell, State Superintendent regarding the need to video tape our teacher candidates during the Culminating Teaching Experience Task lesson.

The letter, and suggested letters to be sent home from the principal of the participating school and the teacher candidate can be found at the indicated link at the bottom of the blog.

Assessor Training Information

Fresno Pacific University provides Initial Training to Calibrate and Recalibrate in reading the CalTPAs.

The purpose of the Initial Training to Calibrate is to train you to conduct a fair and equitable assessment of each teacher candidate’s performance using professional judgment in conjunction with standardized scoring protocol. In order to be hired as an assessor you must demonstrate that you can score a TPA accurately. This process is called calibration. By the end of the training you will know whether or not you have successfully “calibrated.”

Students will use a web-based submission process called Task Stream to submit their TPAs to the university. You will be asked to sign up for Task Stream and you will be assigned to student’s assessments through Task Stream. Access to a computer and the internet is a requirement to assess TPAs for Fresno Pacific. You will have two weeks to read your assessments from the date of the student’s submission.

Assessors are required to recalibrate yearly for each TPA they calibrated. This must be done prior to the first day of the fall window of submission. Assessors will be given the opportunity to come into the university to read their TPAs or may do so online. Assessors who wish to Recalibrate online will contact the TPA Coordinator for the log in and password to access the TPAs.

Training for new assessors is done as needed. This will usually be scheduled just prior to the opening of a submission window. If you have a question about training please contact Joanie Martin at joanie.martin@fresno.edu.

How to register for Task Stream

You can begin working on your TPA's sign up for a TPA, called Self-Enrollment, you must first create an account with Task Stream. You are asked to purchase at least a one year subcription for $42. If you anticipate being in the program longer than a year, it is your responsibility to extend your subcription as needed.

Quick Start Guide for Task Stream

Information regarding how to sign up for Task Stream can be found on this link. For a tutorial you can go to Campus Cruiser>Future Teachers>TPA.

TPA's and Self Enrollment Codes

To enable yourself to submit a document on Task Stream you must first enroll yourself in the course which is tied to the the specific TPA. Click on the link below for a list of the TPA 's and the self-enrollment codes. You must attach the year you entered the Teacher Education program following the code. For example, task1ms-201o.


The instructions on how to enter your code into Task Stream can be found at this link or when you register for Task Stream.

TPA MOU

A Memorandum of Understanding will be attached to your TPA 2 DRF in Task Stream beginning the Summer of 2009. This document indicates your understanding that you must complete all four of the CalTPA's with a score of 3 or 4 in order to receive a credential from Fresno Pacific University. It will also indicate if you have completed the tutorials that explain the CalTPA's and Task Stream that are located on Campus Cruiser> Future Teachers>TPA.

Attachments and Due Dates for TPA's

TPA's will be submitted via Task Stream in windows that will be open one week before and one week after the end of the semester. The link at the bottom of the blog will lead you to the standards that you must include in your task template response to the standards you will be addressing in your lesson and assessment.

TPA 1: Subject Specific Pedagogy
This TPA has four case studies that are to be completed at the end of four courses. This
TPA is only scored after all four case studies have been submitted. It is your job to
store them in Task Stream and to SHARE them after completion with your instructor.
After completing your final case study you will SUBMIT TPA 1 to the TPA Coordinator.

TPA 2: Designing Instruction
This TPA will be completed at the end of your first semester of student teaching. You will SHARE this with your instructor as well as SUBMIT it to the TPA Coordinator.

TPA 3: Assessing Learning
This TPA will be completed during your second semester of student teaching.
Prior to teaching this lesson you will secure permission forms (you must have copies) from the students in your classroom. At the time of submission you must also turn in a copy of your assessment and five pieces of evidence of student learning (assessment): one for each of your focus students, and a high, medium and low response from the class as a whole.

TPA 4: Culminating Teaching Experience
This TPA will be completed at the end of your second semester of student teaching.
Prior to teaching this lesson you will secure permission forms from the students in your
classroom. You are to set the day you will teach the lesson you plan to use for this TPA.
You must arrange to have someone video tape 20 minutes of your lesson. You will upload this video on Task Stream. You will need to attach (in Task Stream) copies of student work: one from each focus student and a high, medium and low from you class as a whole. NOTE: Kinkos will download your work on a flash drive if you are unable to scan the work yourself.

You will enroll in the TPAs via Task Stream. Please add the school year you were accepted into the program at the end of your enrollment code. For example, if you met with the director of multiple subject in the spring of 2010, and began classes in the fall of 2010 (or summer) your will enroll in TPA 1 as follows: task1ms-2010.

The Guidelines for Submission will give you the dates for submitting your TPAs.

TPA Helps

Fresno Pacific University has chosen the CalTPA's as the means to assess teacher candidates for the credential program. The purpose of this blog is many fold.

NOTE: Many of the documents in this blog have been posted through Google Docs. If you do not have a Google account you will not be able to read these documents. A Google account is free and takes just a few minutes of your time.

If you are a student this blog will provide you:
>with the templates that you will be using to complete the TPA's (TPA Handbook link):
Task 1 Subject-Specific Pedagogy (SSP)
Task 2 Designing Instruction (DI)
Task 3 Assessing Learning (AL)
Task 4 Culminating Teaching Experience (CTE)
>information regarding the submission process of your TPA's via Task Stream.
>the self-enrollment codes you will need to connect with a TPA template specific to your TPA.
>due dates for the submission of your TPA's.
>a link to the current TPA Handbook.
>with a copy of the Permission Form to be signed by parents whose students are in your class during TPA's 3 and 4 (TPA Handbook link).

If you are a course instructor this blog will provide you:
>with the templates that correlate to your particular teaching assignment.
>a list of the Teacher Ed courses and the TPAs that are linked to them.

If you are a mentor this blog will provide you:
>with the templates your students will be using to complete the TPA's.
>a sequencing list of when your students will most likely be taking a particular. TPA

If you are an assessor this blog will provide you:
>a list of training sessions for new TPA's.
>a list of dates regarding recalibration for all tasks (this will be done on-line and will be posted yearly).


Hopefully all who read and use this blog will use it as a venue to post questions regarding the TPA's.