What Is edTPA? The US Teacher Performance Assessment Explained

What Is edTPA?

edTPA is a performance-based assessment that United States teacher preparation programmes use to judge whether a candidate is ready to teach. Developed by Stanford University’s Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity, it asks candidates to submit evidence of planning, instruction and assessment from their own classroom placement rather than sit an exam.

If you have arrived here from a teacher preparation programme, a licensure checklist or a job advert, this page sets out what edTPA is, what it asks of you, how states use it, how it differs from the Praxis tests, and what the 2026 move to edTPA Essentials changes. It also says plainly what it does not tell you, and why.

Key takeaways

• edTPA is a portfolio assessment built from your own teaching placement, not an exam you book and sit.
• Stanford University, through its SCALE centre, owns and authors it, and every version is organised around Planning, Instruction and Assessment.
• The official site lists versions for 28 teaching fields.
• States, licensing bodies and preparation programmes decide whether you need it, so the requirement varies from place to place.
• edTPA Essentials, announced on 26 August 2026, moves to a simplified two-task structure.
• edTPA has no standing for teaching English abroad or online, where employers ask for a recognised TEFL qualification instead.

edTPA at a Glance: Verified Data Block

All figures below were read directly from the official edTPA site on 13 October 2026. Nothing in this block is estimated.

Source: edTPA, “About edTPA” and the edTPA homepage. Checked 13 October 2026.

How to cite this block: The TEFL Institute Group, “What Is edTPA?”, 13 October 2026, citing edTPA (Stanford University / SCALE), About edTPA, https://www.edtpa.com/PageView.aspx?f=GEN_AboutEdTPA.html.

Who Builds edTPA, and Who Does Not

The ownership question matters because it explains why edTPA behaves differently from a commercial test. The official About page states that edTPA was developed by faculty and staff at Stanford University’s Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity, and that Stanford “is the exclusive author and owner of edTPA”. The delivery platform and candidate-facing systems carry a Pearson Education copyright notice.

The National Education Association describes edTPA in similar terms, as “an assessment and support system used by teacher preparation programs throughout the United States” (NEA). The phrase “and support system” is doing real work: edTPA was designed as something a programme teaches towards, not only something a candidate is scored on.

The Three Tasks: Planning, Instruction and Assessment

Every subject version of edTPA shares what the official site calls “a common architecture focused on three tasks: Planning, Instruction, and Assessment”. In practice that means a candidate builds one portfolio around a short sequence of their own teaching rather than answering questions about teaching in the abstract.

1. Planning. The candidate shows how a learning segment was designed for the particular pupils in front of them, including the standards being addressed and the supports built in for different learners.
2. Instruction. The candidate shows the teaching itself, and explains the decisions made while it was happening.
3. Assessment. The candidate shows how pupil learning was measured, what the evidence revealed, and what they would do next because of it.

The three-task shape is the single most useful thing to understand about edTPA. It is why candidates describe it as time-consuming rather than difficult in the way an exam is difficult, and it is why it cannot be revised for in the last fortnight.

Which Subjects edTPA Covers

The official site states that edTPA includes versions for 28 teaching fields. State pages then map individual licence areas onto specific handbooks. North Carolina’s page, for example, lists handbooks across elementary grades, middle grades, secondary subjects, world languages, special subjects taught across kindergarten to grade 12, exceptional children and career and technical education.

That page also shows the limits of the system honestly: for two licence areas it says plainly, “At this time, there is no edTPA handbook available for this license” (edTPA for North Carolina). If your subject is unusual, check the handbook list before you assume there is one.

How States Use edTPA: North Carolina as a Worked Example

There is no single national rule. edTPA is adopted, required, accepted as one option among several, or not used at all, depending on the state and sometimes on the individual preparation programme. One worked example shows how specific the policy gets.

North Carolina’s official edTPA page states that “all candidates seeking initial licensure in North Carolina will be required to submit qualifying scores” on the appropriate assessment, and that “the consequential date for edTPA and PPAT begins on September 1, 2019”. It also instructs candidates that they “should confirm the appropriate edTPA portfolio handbook with their faculty advisor”, and that the “handbook selection should be aligned with your clinical experience”.

Three things generalise from that. First, the requirement is tied to initial licensure, not to experienced teachers. Second, edTPA is often named alongside an alternative, in this case PPAT, so a state requiring a performance assessment is not necessarily a state requiring edTPA. Third, the correct handbook is a decision made with your programme, not one you make alone.

edTPA and Praxis: What Each One Measures

This is the most common point of confusion, and the two are not substitutes.

Sources: edTPA and Praxis, “About the Praxis Tests”, both checked 13 October 2026. Our companion explainer, What Is Praxis?, covers the test family in full, including the Core tests and the subject tests.

The short version: Praxis asks whether you know enough. edTPA asks whether you can teach it. Many candidates in states that use both will do Praxis earlier and edTPA during their clinical placement.

edTPA Essentials: What Changed in 2026

This is the part most pages about edTPA have not caught up with. A dated notice on the official edTPA homepage, stamped 26 August 2026, reads: “edTPA Essentials is now available”. The site directs readers to the National Evaluation Series for the detail, and describes the new assessment as having a simplified two-task structure and a streamlined submission process.

Two tasks instead of three is a substantial change to the architecture that has defined edTPA since it was built. What it does not do, on the evidence of the official site on 13 October 2026, is retire edTPA: there is no notice of discontinuation, no final submission window and no closing date published alongside the announcement.

The practical implication for a candidate is narrow but important. If you are reading guidance written before September 2026, assume the task structure described in it may no longer be the one your programme is using, and confirm which version applies to you before you build anything.

What This Page Does Not Tell You: Fees, Passing Scores and Dates

You will find pages that quote an edTPA fee, a passing score and a submission deadline as though they were national constants. This page does not, and the reason is worth stating.

Passing scores are set per state and per handbook, and the score tables on state pages are tied to the number of rubrics in a specific handbook version. Reading one of those tables correctly requires knowing which handbook you are on. Fees and submission windows are set by the delivery platform and change between cycles. Quoting any of them here, stripped of that context, would be more likely to mislead you than to help you.

The right source is your own state licensing body, and the handbook your faculty advisor confirms. The state-by-state entry points sit on the official edTPA site.

Does edTPA Apply If You Want to Teach English Abroad?

No, and it is worth being direct about that because the search results for teacher qualifications mix domestic licensure with international teaching freely.

edTPA sits inside the United States school licensure system. It is evidence for a state that you are ready to be the teacher of record in an American classroom. Schools and language academies hiring English teachers in Spain, Vietnam, South Korea, the UAE or Latin America are not asking for it, do not have a way to read it, and in most cases will never have heard of it.

What they ask for is a recognised TEFL qualification, commonly a 120-hour certificate, or an Ofqual-regulated Level 5 qualification where the employer or visa route wants a regulated credential. Our TEFL qualifications and terminology hub sets out how those sit against one another.

Where a TEFL Qualification Fits Alongside edTPA

The two are not in competition, and a candidate can sensibly hold both. A licensed US teacher with edTPA behind them who wants to teach internationally, take a summer post abroad or work with English learners online will still need a TEFL qualification, because that is the credential the hiring side recognises.

It also runs the other way. Trainee teachers often take a TEFL course during or straight after their preparation programme, because teaching English as a foreign language is methodologically distinct from teaching in an English-medium classroom, and because it opens placements that a state licence alone does not.

If you support English learners in a US school without being the teacher of record, the related roles are covered in our guides to the paraprofessional role and, for the comparable credential in England, qualified teacher status.

How to Check Your Own State’s Requirement

1. Start with your state licensing body, not with a third-party guide. The requirement is theirs to set.
2. Ask your preparation programme which performance assessment it uses and which version: edTPA or edTPA Essentials.
3. Confirm the handbook with your faculty advisor, and align it with the placement you will actually be teaching.
4. Check whether an alternative assessment is accepted in your state, as North Carolina does with PPAT.
5. Only then look at fees and submission windows, from the official platform rather than a summary.

Four Common Misunderstandings About edTPA

“It is a test you book and sit.” It is not. It is assembled from your own teaching over a period of weeks, which is why it cannot be crammed.

“Every state requires it.” It is not. Requirements vary by state, by licence area and sometimes by programme, and some states accept an alternative performance assessment instead.

“It replaces Praxis.” It does not. They measure different things, and in several states candidates complete both.

“It qualifies me to teach anywhere.” It does not. It is a United States licensure instrument with no standing in international English language teaching.

What Is Your Next Step After Reading About edTPA?

If your route runs through a United States classroom, your next step is your state licensing body and then your preparation programme, in that order. Nothing on this site replaces what they tell you.

If you want to teach English abroad, online or in a language centre, the credential employers ask for is a TEFL qualification with a level you can check. Our Level 5 TEFL Diploma is Ofqual-regulated (610/1571/4), awarded by Highfield Qualifications through Approved Centre 21335, and sits at the same RQF Level 5 as CELTA. You can look it up on the Ofqual register before you enrol.

Last reviewed: 13 October 2026

Jessica Jeffery

Recruitment and Partnerships Specialist at The TEFL Institute Group. Jessica holds a business degree plus TEFL and CELTA, has taught in Thailand and Italy, and helps students find high-quality jobs and internships.

Sources

• edTPA: About edTPA (Stanford University / SCALE). Checked 13 October 2026.
• edTPA: official site, including the edTPA Essentials notice dated 26 August 2026. Checked 13 October 2026.
• edTPA for North Carolina. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Praxis: About the Praxis Tests (ETS). Checked 13 October 2026.
• National Education Association: edTPA. Checked 13 October 2026.