Using a Broken Tool Against the Grain: Recasting the edTPA to Craft Critical Consciousness among Dance Teacher Candidates

Many states require preservice teachers to complete performance assessments to measure their effectiveness before obtaining state teaching credentials. One popular assessment, the edTPA, evaluates a teacher candidate’s professional readiness. As previous research has demonstrated, standardized tools are dubious for their intended purpose of ensuring teacher quality, and worse, potentially deny equitable access to diverse teacher candidates as a gatekeeper. Nevertheless, the legally required, largely ineffective, and bothersome examination process affords an opportunity for preservice teachers to better understand the sociopolitical context that frames public education. Drawing on literature from the field of teacher training in the arts, including dance and theater, we consider ways to use the edTPA as a tool for social critique to ultimately support dance teacher candidates as they develop sociopolitical consciousness.