Effective Fall 2019, all initial certification teacher candidates (including teachers of record) at Notre Dame of Maryland University are required to complete the edTPA in their content area; i.e., their planned area of certification.  Thus a teacher candidates who is interning as an elementary teacher and planning to be certified as an elementary teacher would take the edTPA in Elementary Education.   Teacher candidates who are pursuing more than one area of certification are generally expected to complete this assessment in their ‘primary’ content area. 

The Maryland State Department of Education will require (effective July 1, 2025) all candidates who are seeking to become certified to pass the edTPA (or the PPAT) as part of new licensure requirements.  Notre Dame of Maryland University opted to require the edTPA, an assessment that is more tailored to each content area than the more generic PPAT, as of Fall 2019. 

Effective Fall 2020 NDMU will require all initial certification teacher candidates to achieve a minimum score based on the number of rubrics associated with each edTPA, i.e.,  37 (for 15 rubric portfolios), 42 (for 18 rubric portfolios, or 34 (for 13 rubric portfolios), respectively.  A minimum passing score is required for graduation from NDMU’s School of Education. Additionally, all candidates will be required to fully and successfully participate in the online/face to face support process that is provided to teacher candidates during their internship experience.  Moreover, they must have a completely scored portfolio in order to receive a passing grade for their Internship (also a graduation requirement).  This edTPA requirement is an intensive one-credit (1 cr) requirement per certification area.