edTPA

The assessment has a common architecture of three tasks - Planning, Instruction, and Assessment - with versions for 28 teaching fields. You build a portfolio during your student teaching clinical experience, including lesson plans, unedited video of your teaching, and written commentary. Your program's handbook for your field defines the exact evidence required.

A portfolio prepared during clinical experience. According to the official description, candidates submit lesson plans designed around students' strengths and needs, engage real students in ambitious learning, analyze whether students are learning and adjust instruction, and include unedited video recordings of themselves at work in a real classroom. Your field handbook lists the specific artifacts and prompts.

Portfolios are scored by highly trained educators, not by your cooperating teacher. Difficulty depends heavily on the quality of evidence you capture in your placement, so plan video and student-work collection early rather than retrofitting commentary after teaching ends.

The official pages we reviewed do not publish a retake policy, cost, or limit, so we report this as unknown. Candidates should review the full policies they agree to during registration and check with their educator preparation program and the official site for retake and resubmission options before assuming anything.

The official site links to a Fees and Payment Options page but does not state an amount on the pages we reviewed, so no figure is given here. Programs may also purchase vouchers for candidates. Confirm current fees and voucher details through the official fees page and your preparation program.

edTPA publishes a submission and reporting schedule each year; the site announced that the 2025–2026 schedule is available. Specific windows and score-release dates vary by cycle and are not fixed values we can quote. Check the current schedule before planning your deadline, and note that deadlines have been extended in past disruptions.

edTPA Essentials was announced as launching August 2026 and a later announcement states it is now available via the National Evaluation Series website. It is described as a simplified two-task structure with targeted evidence requirements and an enhanced submission process. Structure and weighting details are not specified, so confirm which version your program requires.

Plan first, because Instruction and Assessment evidence flows from those lesson plans: design lessons around your students' strengths and needs, then teach and record them, then analyze student work and describe adjustments. Draft commentary while memories and artifacts are fresh, and check each artifact against your handbook's rubric language before submitting.

Based on the assessment's stated expectations, weak submissions tend to show generic lesson plans not tied to specific students' strengths and needs, video that does not capture the described interaction, and analysis that lists activities instead of evidence of learning and instructional adjustment. Every claim in your commentary should point to a concrete artifact.

Read your field handbook and rubrics, complete the online training and candidate support videos referenced on the official site, and plan consent and video-capture logistics with your cooperating teacher in advance. Knowing the commentary prompts early lets you collect the right student work and footage the first time.