Part B (continued):
Plan for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Early Childhood/Elementary Education Planning Commentary
Adapted from edTPA handbook

1. Central Focus: 100 points
   a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach.
   b. Given the central focus/strategy, describe how the standards and learning objectives address the development of student competencies.
   c. Explain how your plan helps students make connections.
   d. Describe how the physical environment in which you are teaching supports the active and multimodal nature of children’s learning. (If, in your view, the physical environment in which you are teaching does not adequately support the active and multimodal nature of children’s learning, please describe the changes you would make.)
2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching: 100 points
   Describe what you know about your students with respect to the central focus of your instruction. Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).
   a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focus—Cite evidence of what students know, what they can do, and what they are still learning to do.
   b. Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focus—What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and interests?
3. Supporting Students’ Learning: 100 points
   Support your justifications, refer to the instructional materials and lesson plan developed. In addition, use principles from research and/or theory to support your justifications.
   a. Justify how your understanding of your students’ prior academic learning and personal, cultural, and community assets guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials. Be explicit about the connections between the learning tasks and students’ prior academic learning, their assets, and research/theory.
   b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific learning needs. Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (i.e. students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).
   c. Describe common developmental approximations or common misconceptions related to content of your central focus and how you will address them.
4. Supporting Children’s Vocabulary and Language Development: 100 points
   Respond by referring to children’s range of vocabulary development related to the learning segment—What do they know, what are they struggling with, and/or what is new to them?
   a. Identify the key vocabulary (i.e. developmentally appropriate sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs) essential for children to use during instruction.
   b. Identify the learning experience that provides children with opportunities to develop, practice, and/or use the key vocabulary identified.
   c. Describe how you plan to support the children (during and/or prior to the learning experience) to develop and use the key vocabulary identified.
   d. Language Function. Using information about your students’ language assets and needs, identify one language function essential for students to develop and practice the central focus of your instruction. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may choose one of these or another more appropriate for your instructional plan.
   Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Explain
   Summarize Interpret Predict Question Retell

e. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to practice using the language function in ways that support learning.
f. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed, and identify and describe the planned instructional supports (during and/or prior to the learning task) to help students understand, develop, and use the identified language demands (function, vocabulary, key phrases, discourse, or syntax).

5. Monitoring Student Learning: 100 points
   Refer to the assessment(s) submitted in your responses.
   a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evidence of your students conceptual understanding.
   b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (i.e. students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students). RUBRIC
   Signature Assessment Part B (continued evaluation): Planning Commentary
   (adapted from edTPA local evaluation rubrics)

Score Category Emerging Performance
(50 points) Proficient Performance
(80 points) Advanced Performance
(100 points)

How does the candidate’s plan build students’ conceptual understanding? 

(InTASC 1, 4, 5; CAEP 1.1, 1.4)
Candidate’s plans for instruction focus solely on facts, skills, and/or procedures with no connections to
concepts.
OR
There are significant content inaccuracies that will lead to student misunderstandings.
OR
Standards, objectives, and learning tasks and materials are not aligned with each other. Candidate’s plans for instruction support student learning of facts, skills and procedures with vague connections to concepts.
Candidate’s plans for instruction support learning of facts, skills, and procedures with clear connections to
concepts
Candidate’s plans for
instruction support learning of facts, skills and procedures with clear and consistent connections to concepts
Candidate explains how they
will use learning tasks and
materials to lead students to make clear and consistent connections.
LOOK FORs:
Learning tasks
• are candidate-directed
• focus on practice of skills/facts/procedures/conventions
• limit students’ opportunities to develop subject-specific understandings
• include consistent, significant content errors
• are not aligned with learning outcomes LOOK FORs:
Learning tasks
• are aligned with learning outcomes
• build skills/facts/procedures and subject-specific understandings (but may be unbalanced) LOOK FORs:
All from Proficient and…
Learning Tasks
• build skills/facts/procedures/conventions and deep subject-specific understandings
• support students to understand the relationship between skills/facts/procedures/conventions and subject-specific understandings
How does the candidate use knowledge of his/her students to target support for students to develop conceptual understanding?

(InTASC 2, 7, 8; CAEP 1.1, 1.4)
There is no evidence of planned supports.
OR
Candidate does NOT attend to ANY INSTRUCTIONAL requirements in IEPs and 504 plans. Planned supports are loosely tied to learning objectives or the central focus of instruction.
Planned supports are tied to learning objectives and the central focus with attention to the characteristics of the class as a whole.
Planned supports are tied to
learning objectives and the central focus. Supports address the needs of specific individuals or groups with similar needs.
Supports include specific strategies to identify and respond to preconceptions, common errors, and
misunderstandings
LOOK FORs:
Planned supports
• are superficially aligned with learning outcomes (e.g., lesson addresses additional outcomes or misses key outcomes related to the central focus)
• are limited or missing
• do not address any IEP/504 instructional requirements LOOK FORs:
Planned supports
• are aligned with learning outcomes
• are appropriate for the needs of the whole class
LOOK FORs:
All from Proficient and…
Planned supports
• are designed to scaffold learning for a variety of students (e.g., English learners, struggling readers, underperforming or gifted students)
• identify and respond to potential misconceptions or partial understandings
How does the candidate use knowledge of his/her students to justify instructional plans?

(InTASC 2, 7, 8; CAEP 1.1, 1.4) Candidate’s justification of
learning tasks is either
missing OR represents a
deficit view of students and
their backgrounds.
Candidate justifies learning
tasks with limited attention to students’
• prior academic learning
OR
• personal, cultural, or
community assets. Candidate justifies why learning tasks (or their adaptations) are appropriate using examples of students’
• prior academic learning OR
• personal, cultural, or community assets.

Candidate makes superficial
connections to research and/or theory. Candidate justifies why learning tasks (or their adaptations) are appropriate using examples of students’
• prior academic learning
AND
• personal, cultural, or
community assets.

Candidate makes connections to research and/or theory. Candidate’s justification is
supported by principles from research and/or theory.
LOOK FORs:
Justification for plans includes
• superficial descriptions of students’ prior learning OR lived experiences/assets
• pervasively negative portrayal of students’ backgrounds, educational experiences, or family/community characteristics (e.g., exclusive focus on student needs or gaps without acknowledging strengths) LOOK FORs:
Justification for plans includes
• concrete, specific connections between tasks and prior learning (academic OR lived experiences/assets)
• surface-level discussion of theory or research LOOK FORs:
Justification for plans includes
• concrete, specific connections between tasks and prior learning (academic AND lived experiences/assets)
• grounded discussion of theory or research (e.g., goes beyond “name dropping”)

How does the candidate identify and support language demands associated with a key

learning task?

(InTASC 1, 4; CAEP 1.1, 1.4) Language demands identified by the candidate are not consistent with the selected language function
OR task.
OR
Language supports are missing or are not aligned with the language demand(s) for the learning task. Language supports primarily address one language demand (vocabulary and/or symbols, function, discourse, syntax).
General language supports address use of two or more language demands (vocabulary and/or symbols, function, discourse, syntax).

Targeted language supports address use of
• vocabulary and/or symbols,
• language function, AND
• one or more additional
language demands (discourse, syntax).
Level 4 plus:
Language supports are
designed to meet the needs of students with different levels of language learning.
LOOK FORs:
Only one language demand supported.
Mismatch between language demands and
• language function
• language supports
• learning task
Supports are not included.
LOOK FORs:
• General language supports address two or more language demands (function, vocabulary, syntax, discourse).
LOOK FORs:
• Supports are strategically designed to address vocabulary, language function and syntax/discourse.

Supports are differentiated for students with varying language needs.
How are the informal and formal assessments selected or designed to monitor students’ conceptual understanding?

(InTASC 1, 6; CAEP 1.1, 1.4) The assessment(s) only provide evidence of students’ procedural skills or factual knowledge.
OR
Candidate does not attend to ANY ASSESSMENT requirements in IEPs and 504 plans. The assessment(s) provide
limited evidence to monitor
students’ conceptual understanding during the instruction.
The assessment(s) provide
evidence to monitor students’
conceptual understanding
during the instruction.
The assessment(s) provide multiple forms of evidence to monitor students’ progress
toward developing conceptual understanding throughout the instruction.
The assessment(s) are
strategically designed to
allow individuals or groups with specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
LOOK FORs:
Majority of Assessments
• provide minimal evidence of subject-specific understandings (e.g., only rote responses of facts or skills)
• are not aligned with full scope of subject-specific outcomes

No IEP/504 requirement for assessment adaptations/modifications is addressed LOOK FORs:
Majority of Assessments
• provide evidence of subject-specific understandings
LOOK FORs:
All from Proficient and…
Assessments
• provide multiple forms of evidence of the full range of subject-specific understandings
• are used in each lesson
• are differentiated so students show understandings in various ways