The CalTPA (California Teaching Performance Assessment) is a required performance assessment for earning a Preliminary Multiple Subject, Single Subject, or PK-3 Early Childhood Education teaching credential in California. Rather than a traditional sit-down exam, the CalTPA asks you to plan lessons, teach them in a real classroom, record yourself on video, and submit evidence of your teaching for scoring by trained assessors.
How the CalTPA Is Structured
The assessment is built around two full instructional cycles, each following the same pedagogical sequence: plan, teach and assess, reflect, and apply. You complete both cycles during your student teaching or clinical placement at a school site, not in a testing center.
As of the 2025-26 administration, the two cycles have been reorganized around specific content areas. Cycle 1 is now the Math Cycle and Cycle 2 is now the Literacy Cycle for Multiple Subject and PK-3 candidates. Single Subject and World Language candidates also complete two cycles, with updates made to align with the new structure. The older labels of “Cycle 1” and “Cycle 2” without content-specific designations applied to prior versions of the assessment.
Each cycle requires you to align your lesson plans with current California content standards written out in full, not just listed by number. For the Literacy Cycle (and Cycle 2 for Single Subject candidates), you must also incorporate California English Language Development (ELD) Standards or Strands. Candidates working in preschool or transitional kindergarten classrooms use the California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations instead.
What You Submit
For each cycle, you upload a package of evidence to the California Educator Credentialing Assessments website. This includes your lesson plans, video recordings of your teaching, written reflections, and related documentation. Every piece of evidence needs to be substantial enough for an assessor to evaluate your performance against the CalTPA rubrics.
Video quality matters more than you might expect. The audio must be clear enough for assessors to hear both you and your students. Background noise or poor recording quality can prevent assessors from scoring your submission. Before you upload, review every video file to confirm it plays back correctly and meets the required technical specifications for format and file type.
If any portion of your evidence is in a language other than English, you generally need to include a translation. There are two exceptions: candidates concurrently earning a Bilingual Authorization who teach in a non-English or bilingual placement, and candidates registered for the World Languages assessment.
Passing Scores
The CalTPA uses rubric-based scoring, and the passing standards depend on which version of the assessment you take. For the 2025-26 administration, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved passing standards for both the current and prior versions.
For the redeveloped CalTPA (Version 01), which is the version launching for 2025-26, each cycle has 8 rubrics and requires a minimum score of 16 points. The Commission also approved a secondary passing standard of 14 points for all Version 01 cycles, giving candidates an alternative threshold.
The older CalTPA (Version 07) remains in use during the transition. Cycle 1 requires 19 points across 8 rubrics with no more than one score of 1. Cycle 2 requires 21 points across 9 rubrics, also with no more than one score of 1. Candidates who don’t pass both cycles of the 2024-25 version by the June 30, 2026 submission deadline will need to complete the 2026-27 version instead.
The New Literacy Requirement
One of the biggest recent changes to the CalTPA stems from Senate Bill 488, which was signed in 2021. That law directed the Commission to develop a new literacy performance assessment to replace the RICA (Reading Instruction Competence Assessment) exam, effective July 1, 2025.
The result is the Literacy Cycle built into the 2025-26 CalTPA. Passing this cycle fulfills California’s literacy competency requirement for your credential. This is an important distinction: passing a literacy-related cycle from the 2024-25 version does not satisfy the requirement. Only the 2025-26 Literacy Cycle counts.
Registration Costs
You register for each cycle through the California Educator Credentialing Assessments website. Your teacher preparation program will typically guide you on timing, since submissions must be completed during an active school placement.
California previously offered an exam fee waiver program that covered registration costs for eligible candidates, but that program ended on June 30, 2024. Candidates registering after that date pay the full fee. Check the credentialing assessments website for the current per-cycle registration cost, as fees can change between program years.
Who Needs to Take It
The CalTPA is required for candidates pursuing a Preliminary Multiple Subject credential (for teaching in self-contained elementary classrooms), a Preliminary Single Subject credential (for teaching a specific subject in departmentalized settings, typically middle and high school), or a PK-3 Early Childhood Education credential. It is one component of several requirements for these credentials, alongside coursework, subject matter competency, and other assessments your program may require.
Candidates concurrently earning a Bilingual Authorization take the same CalTPA but follow additional guidelines from the Commission for incorporating bilingual instruction into their cycles. World Language candidates have their own version of the assessment tailored to language instruction.
Tips for a Scorable Submission
The most fundamental rule is that your submission must include all required evidence. If anything is missing or unviewable, assessors may not be able to assign scores to one or more rubrics, which can result in a non-passing outcome regardless of your teaching quality.
Annotations in your written materials need to match timestamped moments in your video evidence (this applies specifically to Version 07 submissions). Think of it as directing the assessor to the exact moment where you demonstrated a particular skill. The more precisely your written reflections connect to what the assessor can see on screen, the easier it is for them to score your work fairly.
Record a test video in your classroom before the actual filming day. Check for echo, HVAC noise, student voices at the back of the room, and camera angles that obscure your interactions. Small technical problems are the most preventable reason for scoring issues.