Confidentiality and Security of edTPA Candidate Materials and Assessment Data

This information, prepared by Pearson and Stanford University, describes the policies and procedures related to the confidentiality and security of candidate edTPA submissions and assessment data for each phase of the process:

• Pre-Submission of Assessment Materials for Scoring
• Transfer, Upload, and Storage of the Assessment Materials
• Post-Submission and Scoring

This information applies to Pearson and Stanford University handling of materials and data for candidates who register for edTPA at tx.nesinc.com and submit their assessment for official scoring.

Teacher candidates own the content they create and submit for each edTPA portfolio. Neither Stanford University nor Pearson owns the candidates' edTPA portfolios.

The use of the portfolio video by candidates is restricted by the parameters of the release forms obtained for children and/or adults who appear in the video. Because parents/guardians and/or adults have not typically granted permission for public use of the videos in which they or their children appear, videos should NOT be displayed publicly (e.g., personal websites, YouTube, Facebook) without express permission for this purpose from those featured in the video.

Because of laws protecting confidentiality and privacy, only candidates can register themselves for edTPA. Information about registration or submission status may be provided to the educator preparation program in which the candidate is currently enrolled. Given the consequential nature of operational edTPA and associated program policies, programs and candidates will bear responsibility for reviewing program information and ensuring candidates meet appropriate timelines established by their educator preparation programs.

Pre-Submission of Assessment Materials for Scoring

Prior to candidate submission of edTPA assessment materials for scoring, the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website provides information for candidates related to the creation, review, and handling of candidate assessment materials, including video recordings. These include:

• Guidelines for Video Confidentiality for Candidates 
• Guidelines for Video Confidentiality for Faculty 

These guidelines address the need to maintain confidentiality of video participants and direct candidates to obtain appropriate permission from parents/guardians for students who appear in video recordings and from adults who appear in video recordings. In order to assist candidates in obtaining the appropriate releases, the program website and edTPA membership platform (edtpa.org ) include information describing the nature of the assessment and how assessment materials may be used. A sample release form is also provided for reference. Candidates should consult with their program for other specific information that may be required to include in the release form.

Authorized Access

Prior to submitting assessment materials for scoring, candidates may request authorized faculty reviewers at their educator preparation program to provide feedback on their edTPA materials (including video recordings) prior to submission. Faculty at educator preparation programs that are using the Pearson ePortfolio system's feedback feature may provide feedback directly within this system. Some programs may use other platforms or systems to support edTPA on their campus. Candidates should follow their campus directions for receiving feedback. In the Pearson ePortfolio system faculty do not have access to candidate edTPA materials unless authorized by a candidate. While candidates own the content they create and submit for the edTPA portfolio, once the candidate submits the assessment materials to Pearson for scoring, neither the candidate nor authorized faculty have access to the candidate's submitted materials in the Pearson ePortfolio system. If a candidate wants to retain a copy of their submission and share with program faculty with appropriate permission, the files should be saved outside the Pearson ePortfolio system prior to submission. edTPA materials, once submitted, cannot be returned to candidates or educator preparation programs.

Authorized faculty are required to abide by Guidelines for Video Confidentiality for Faculty, which prohibit the sharing, copying, or posting of candidate assessment materials, including video recordings, in any public way.

Attestations

When candidates are ready to submit their assessment materials to Pearson for scoring, they are presented with candidate attestations, which include requiring confirmation that they have obtained the necessary video releases and that they have not posted and will not post video recordings in any location other than the Pearson ePortfolio system, an approved integrated edTPA Platform Provider system, or another secure system designated by the candidate's educator preparation program to support edTPA. Candidates must keep their edTPA video recordings under secure conditions and share with programs only when appropriate permissions are granted.

Transfer, Upload, and Storage of the Assessment Materials

Candidate assessment materials, including video recordings, enter the Pearson ePortfolio system in one of two ways:

• Transfer from an approved, integrated edTPA Platform Provider system. Candidates who have registered on the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website and are working in one of the approved integrated edTPA Platform Provider systems authorize the transfer of their assessment materials to the Pearson ePortfolio system.
• Uploading by the candidate directly into the Pearson ePortfolio system.

Transmission of assessment materials via these methods is protected using industry standard encryption practices.

Once materials have been transferred from an approved, integrated edTPA Platform Provider system or uploaded directly into the Pearson ePortfolio system, they must be reviewed and verified by the candidate in the Pearson ePortfolio system and submitted for official scoring.

Storage

The assessment materials are stored by Pearson in secure repositories and areas accessible only to authorized users via unique, secure log-in credentials for specific actions and for limited periods of time.

Access

By using industry-standard security software (encrypted protocols and encrypted and expiring tokens), the system ensures that access to view the stored assessment materials/videos is granted only to authorized users.

• Authorized Pearson users may include scorers, scorer supervisors, scorer trainers, scoring support personnel, and personnel required to conduct quality control.
• Authorized Stanford personnel associated with assessment development may view candidates' edTPA materials for the purposes of selection of scorer training materials and scorer training activities.

Post-Submission and Scoring

Access

• Authorized Pearson users may include scorers, scorer supervisors, scorer trainers, scoring support personnel, and personnel required to conduct quality control or required to conduct an investigation associated with compliance with the Rules of Assessment Participation, as needed.
• Authorized Stanford personnel associated with assessment development may view candidates' edTPA materials for the purposes of selection of scorer training materials and scorer training activities.
• Authorized individuals at the educator preparation program in which a candidate is enrolled and/or the Texas Education Agency (TEA) may be provided access to submitted assessment materials or a portion thereof as part of an investigation associated with compliance with the Rules of Assessment Participation, as needed.

Authorized scorers access the candidate assessment materials, including video recordings, through Pearson's password-protected secure Scoring System. Candidate assessment materials are available only for the period in which scoring occurs. Scorer access to the Pearson Scoring System is disabled after the scorer's activities are completed.

Access to edTPA Data

Candidate scores will be reported to the candidate, to TEA, and to the educator preparation program (if applicable).

• States will receive aggregated score information and may also receive individual and program-level information, depending on state policy. Summary statistics by state and nation will be made available to participating states. Candidate and campus identities are not disclosed in aggregated or summary data reports.
• Data will be available to the authorized edTPA reporting contact at educator preparation programs and states via Pearson's secure reporting site that requires unique username and password access. The information reported, via this secure, web-based system, is expressly for use by approved edTPA reporting educator preparation programs.
• Stanford University does not receive individual candidate information or scores. Stanford University will receive edTPA results without candidate name or other identifying information.

Other Uses of Candidate Materials

• edTPA assessment materials, without candidate or other identifying information, may be used for edTPA program development and implementation, including scorer training.
• Prior to submitting their assessment materials to Pearson for scoring, edTPA candidates will be asked to consent to or opt out of use of their assessment materials to support continued program improvement activities conducted by Stanford University and Pearson, such as future validity and reliability studies of edTPA.
• Candidate video recordings will not be shown in any public venue nor made available in a non-secure way.
• Candidate materials, including video recordings, will not be used for marketing purposes or as exemplars for marketing purposes.

Other Use or Disclosure of Information

It is Pearson's practice not to transmit personally identifiable information to third parties, except as provided in this Privacy Policy posted on this website. We may disclose personally identifiable information in the following situations:

1. in response to a subpoena, court order, or legal process, to the extent permitted and required by law;
2. to address violations of law, and/or to protect your security or the security of other persons, consistent with applicable law;
3. in connection with a sale, joint venture, or other transfer of some or all of the assets of Pearson;
4. to organizations who are working as contractors or agents of Pearson and who are committed or obliged to protect your privacy in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy.

By using this website and the Pearson ePortfolio system, candidates give their consent for personal information to be transmitted in the situations outlined above.

edTPA Retention and Destruction

The standard retention period for edTPA submissions, including videos, is four years, after which submissions will be destroyed. There may be exceptions to the standard retention period for extenuating circumstances, such as a score void or other challenge.

After the retention period, edTPA artifacts, including videos, are disposed of through a set of automated processes that identify and physically delete the artifacts from their repository locations. These processes are executed on a regular, periodic basis and render the artifacts inaccessible and irretrievable.

Candidate edTPA scores and associated identifying information will be retained indefinitely, supporting the reproduction of edTPA score reports for candidates as requested.

Submission Requirements

Before beginning to create your edTPA assessment submission, you must review these Submission Requirements to ensure that:

• your edTPA materials will meet the technical specifications for artifacts required
  and
• you have provided all the evidence necessary for your full portfolio to be scored.

All portfolios that are successfully submitted in the Pearson ePortfolio system will go to a scorer for scoring. A fully scorable portfolio is one that can be reviewed by a scorer and have scores assigned to every rubric. If your submission does not meet the Submission Requirements, a condition code may be applied during the scoring process instead of a numerical score for one or more rubrics.

Condition codes will be shown on your score profile and if two or more condition codes appear in a single task, the task and whole portfolio totals will not appear on the score report—instead the task and portfolio will be reported as "incomplete."

If your completed submission, or portions thereof, cannot be scored due to failure to meet Submission Requirements, no refund will be issued, and no portion of your assessment fee can be applied to the cost of any future edTPA registration or associated services. If you receive two or more condition codes within the same task, the task score and total portfolio score are reported to the state and your Educator Preparation Provider as "incomplete" and you must retake those tasks in order to receive a numerical Task Total and Total edTPA Score. Consult the state's passing standards to determine the impact of condition codes and an "incomplete" passing status and the requirements for resubmission or retake of edTPA.

In addition to these specific Submission Requirements, you must also review and comply with all other requirements for your content area contained in the edTPA Assessment Handbook as well as the policies for candidate registration, assessment, and score reporting as posted on the current Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website.

Note that any material that is intended to be part of your edTPA submission must be uploaded or transferred to the Pearson ePortfolio system prior to the submission of your portfolio. Scorers will not be able to access hyperlinks to documents or webpages (e.g., posted lesson plans) contained in your submitted artifacts and documents. Hyperlinks are acceptable as references in your citations but will not be used by scorers to reference information outside of your submission.

Condition Codes

In order for your edTPA submission to be scored, it must meet these Submission Requirements. If your submission does not meet these requirements and your submission, or portions of your submission, are deemed unscorable or a task is "incomplete," your score profile will specify one of the following "Condition Codes," and the rubric(s) performance description described on the score profile will provide information indicating the requirement(s) not met.

• Artifacts and Commentaries for Planning Task must be scorable. Your edTPA portfolio documents your planning, instruction, and assessment within a learning segment designed to meet the learning needs of your students.

  Condition Code A may be assigned to Rubrics 1–5 for the following reasons:

  • Fewer than three lesson plans are submitted, OR
  • for middle/secondary candidates teaching within a large time block, the lesson plans cover less than 3 hours of instruction.

  Planning Task rubrics could also be unscorable for any of the reasons indicated in Condition Codes D through H. You should review all of your uploaded or transferred materials prior to submission, particularly those related to planning rubrics, to ensure that your edTPA submission meets all requirements for scoring.

• Video: Any required video components of your submission must conform to technical specifications (e.g., format, file type), and be viewable by scorers. After uploading or transferring your video, you must review it in the Pearson ePortfolio system prior to submitting your assessment, even if the video file was playable prior to upload or transfer. Your review will confirm that your submitted video meets the technical specifications and can be viewed by scorers by confirming successful playback prior to submission.

  Condition Code B will be assigned if your video cannot be played at all or if it is of insufficient technical quality to view.

• Audio: The audio for required video components must be intelligible to scorers. Review your video(s) prior to submission for potential background noise or poor audio quality that would interfere with a scorer's ability to hear you and your students. Please note that some environments (e.g., auditorium, gymnasium, pool) are less conducive to audio recording, and make any appropriate adjustments when recording your video to ensure adequate audio quality. If short sections of the video clip(s) are inaudible, you may include a written transcript at the end of the commentary template.

  Condition Code C will be assigned if your video contains no audio or if the audio associated with your video is of insufficient technical quality to review.

• Artifacts and commentaries must provide sufficient evidence so that scorers can evaluate your performance according to the edTPA rubrics.

  Condition Code D may be assigned for the following reasons:

  • No response to the commentary prompt(s) provided or response is unrelated to edTPA tasks
  • The total time of your video clip(s) submitted for Task 2 is less than three minutes
  • The response to the commentary prompt was not within the allowable page limits (i.e., substantive response to the commentary prompt appeared after the maximum page limit for the document)
  • Alternative Evidence Only: There was not enough detailed description in the transcript to understand instruction

  Note: Materials that must be translated into English should be added to the original materials as part of the same file or, if applicable, to the end of the commentary template. There is no page limit for translations into English.

• Submitted files must be correctly uploaded or transferred to the appropriate designated location in the Pearson ePortfolio system. Blank files cannot be scored. All required documents must be legible, including handwriting in student work samples as well as candidate-typed responses. You must submit all materials required for your content area. You must review your uploaded or transferred materials prior to submission to ensure that you are submitting the correct, unique file(s) for each Part.

  Condition Code E may be assigned for the following reasons:

  • The incorrect file was uploaded to the designated location.
  • The file was blank, containing no text or graphics, or the video clip or audio file contained no content.
  • The file could not be opened for technical reasons (e.g., file extension does not match file type).
  • Documents are illegible (e.g., handwriting not legible, images are blurry, reduced in size, or otherwise cannot be read).
  • No referenced artifact submitted (e.g., Evidence of Feedback is referenced or described in the Commentary, but not submitted).
  • Hyperlinks to external documents are provided in lieu of the actual documents.

• Submitted video clips for Task 2 must be continuous and unedited, with no interruption in events (e.g., you may not edit a video clip to remove "quiet time" when students are working independently, edit out physical transitions, or edit out disruptive behavior).

  Condition Code F may be assigned for the following reasons:

  • Your video is edited.
  • Your face does not appear in at least one of the Task 2 video clips, or the video has been edited to intentionally blur the candidate's face.

  Exception: Video evidence of video student work samples, assessment feedback, and video evidence of academic language use can be edited to include multiple clips. In addition, while there is no minimum length for other instances of video evidence outside of Task 2, the clips should be long enough to provide sufficient context for the scorer to evaluate the evidence in the clip.

  See your edTPA handbook for modifications that may be allowed under some conditions (e.g., captioning if certain portions of a file are inaudible).

  You must review your uploaded or transferred video clip(s) prior to submission to ensure that they meet all the video requirements described in the handbook.

• Submitted materials must correspond to the edTPA content area for which you have registered and conform to handbook instructions. Materials related to a content area for which you have not registered cannot be scored. Materials completely unrelated to edTPA cannot be scored.

  Condition Code G may be assigned for the following reasons:

  • The learning objectives are not in the registered content area.
  • The submission corresponds to a different content area than the area for which you registered (e.g., you registered for the Physical Education edTPA assessment, but all submitted materials are related to a Health Education content area).
  • Artifacts are unrelated to the learning segment focus.
  • The number of students does not meet the minimum group size as specified in at least one of the Task 2 video clips as directed in the Handbook.
  • The student work samples are different for one or more focus students than described for the whole class. (Note: This is not applicable to Special Education and is only applicable to the common assessment for Early Childhood.)
    Exception: Differences in assessment are permitted if the assessments address the same central focus but are adapted to be more appropriate for the focus student(s) needs.
  • The work sample evidence for one or more focus students is missing or does not demonstrate what the student(s) knows and/or is able to do (e.g., evidence is limited to a student survey, self-assessment, peer assessment, or work completed by a group).
    Note: Applies to Task 3's work sample evidence and Elementary Education: Literacy with Mathematics Task 4's formative and re-engagement work sample evidence.
  • The number of students in the Context for Learning does not meet the minimum group size.
  • The video work samples do not meet the handbook requirement of recording student performance in the context of regular instruction within the whole class activity. (Applies to Physical Education only.)
  • The number of students in the learning segment assessment does not meet the handbook guidelines.
    Note: If one or more students who are intended to count for meeting the minimum group size requirement are only partially visible in the video clip, provide a time stamp reference and description of where a partial view of student(s) occurs within your response for Prompt 1 of the Instruction Commentary.
  • More than one condition code applies to a rubric. Within 1–2 business days after a score reporting date, the candidate will receive information regarding the specific condition codes.

• Translations/transcripts of materials (videos or documents) that were written or recorded in the language of instruction other than English are required for assessment areas/specialty areas without bilingual placement specialty area options.

  Translations/transcripts of materials should be added to the original materials as part of the same file or, if applicable, to the end of the commentary template of the corresponding edTPA Task. There is no page limit for required translations into English.

  Exception: Translations are not required for materials that were written or recorded in a language of instruction other than English if one of the following conditions applies:

  • You have registered for any one of the following assessment areas/specialty areas:
    • any World Language
    • any Classical Language
    • Elementary Education: Literacy with Mathematics Task 4—Bilingual placement with instruction in Spanish
    • Special Education—Deaf and hearing impaired (for ASL only)

  Condition Code H may be assigned if the English translation requirement has not been met:

  • Translations/transcripts for materials written or recorded in a language of instruction other than English are not provided, and the portfolio does not meet the criteria for one of the exceptions listed above.
  • Materials have been submitted in a language (other than English) that do not correspond with the language of instruction for the Bilingual Placement specialty area selected during registration. Candidates must register for a Bilingual Placement specialty area which corresponds with the language of instruction.

  Note: Translations or transcripts are not required for written evidence added to the end of the Instruction or Assessment Commentary because of poor audio quality of short sections of video clip(s). There is no page limit for translations into English.

If you are unable to resolve a technical issue observed when you review your uploaded or transferred materials, contact Customer Support  for assistance prior to submission.

Condition Codes and Condition Code Details

After receiving score results, you may contact Customer Support  to request additional information about condition codes and required retakes. Your educator preparation program provider may provide additional support and resources on available options for edTPA retakes.

Note: ONLY candidates may contact Pearson Customer Support to discuss score results. Because of privacy and student information laws, Pearson Customer and edTPA EPP Support will not share any candidate score information with states, educator preparation programs, or faculty advisors. Stanford University and Evaluation Systems group of Pearson continue to examine new methods to appropriately and efficiently communicate condition code information to candidates.