edTPA is a pre-service assessment process designed to determine if a new teacher is ready for the job. edTPA is part of a national movement towards the use of performance assessments in teacher education. As of 2014, 41 states (a) require a state-approved performance assessment like edTPA for program completion or for state licensure and/or state program accreditation/review, (b) are taking steps towards implementation, or (c) are participating in edTPA. edTPA is offered in 27 different assessment areas, including English as an Additional Language (EAL) (edTPA, 2015). Although a great deal has been written about edTPA, including the response of some teacher candidates to the assessment, little has been written about EAL, including the response of ESOL teacher candidates to the test. This is cause for concern as TESOL has become increasingly important to P-12 education. By 2025, one in four students in the US will be initially classified as an English learner, and qualified teachers will be needed to serve them (Díaz-Rico & Weed, 2010, p. 3). Given the importance of ESOL teacher candidates to the future of education in the US, teacher educators must know how these candidates perform on the test and why. The present study seeks to provide some of that knowledge.