Over the last five years, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been working to increase the quality of educator preparation programs. One result of these efforts is improved alignment between the goals of educator preparation programs and the expectations for teachers in the field.  With this in mind, ESE has developed the Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP) as the new means to assess licensure candidates’ readiness to positively impact student learning.  The CAP differs from the past assessment process in that it explicitly aligns with the MA Educator Evaluation Framework.

All educator preparation programs are piloting the CAP in either fall or spring of 2015-2016.  CES has been piloting the CAP this spring with all of our western MA practicum candidates. Through this experience, our candidates are gaining practice in key areas of the Educator Evaluation Framework, such as self-assessment, goal-setting, and developing student impact ratings. Teacher candidates are assessed using three of the four Professional Standards for Teachers, with a specific focus on six key strands that are most relevant to beginning practitioners.

The CAP will be implemented as the new pre-service assessment for all teacher candidates throughout MA beginning in Fall 2016. You can read more about the CAP pilot and implementation process at DESE’s CAP website.