Video Assessments for Teaching Candidates

Very interesting article from Teacher Magazine, published online: November 2, 2010, "States Turning to Video Assessments of Teacher Candidates"
(http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/11/02/videoassessment_ap.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss).  Currently used in two states (AZ and CA), and being tested in 19 states, in addition to passing the written certification test, a video of student teachers in their classroom will be evaluated and student teachers must demonstrate that they can prepare a lesson, tailor it to various students  and present it effectively.  As of this date, around 12,000 teaching candidates have used this method.  Once more states adopt this new method of evaluation, a study is planned to track the performance of teachers who passed the video assessment to see if they perform better than teachers who went through the old licensing process.  Proponents believe that this will help weed out those teachers who will succeed in the classroom.  Also, the video evaluators will be people who do not have a vested interest in the evaluation results, i.e., outside evaluators, not the education department at the college who would like high percentages of teacher certifications to bolster their program.   This may prove to be an important step in education reform.