New Jersey Association Wants 'Removal Of Barriers' To Become A Teacher

By Bob Pepalis | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square New Jersey

(The Center Square) – Legislation that would prohibit one of the tests the New Jersey Board of Education requires prospective teachers to pass to secure a teaching license is backed by the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Janet Bamford, chief public affairs officer for the NJSBA, told The Center Square that the association called the edTPA testing requirement a barrier to entry to the profession during a teacher shortage.

The New Jersey Senate passed Bill S896 Sca (1R) in a 37-0 vote in late March. A summary said the bill “prohibits State Board of Education from requiring completion of performance-based assessment as a condition of eligibility for certificate of eligibility with advanced standing.”
The bill was received by the Assembly and was referred to the Assembly Education Committee on the same day.

“NJSBA supports S896, which would remove the edTPA as a requirement for securing a license,” Bamford said.

"Other accountability measures remain to ensure every classroom has an effective teacher if the edTPA is removed as part of teacher candidate preparation," she said.

“The state has a shortage of teachers that has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is important to make every effort to increase the supply of qualified teachers,” she said. “Part of that effort is the removal of barriers of entry into the profession, and the edTPA is one of those barriers.”

"The NJSBA submitted a position statement to the Senate Education Committee in support of the bill prohibiting the use of the edTPA," Bamford said.

The statement cited teacher recruitment and induction changes as reasons to drop the requirement.

Potential teachers must share professional portfolios and endure evaluations by professors, cooperating teachers, and district and school administrators, according to the statement. The rigorous hiring processes and effective mentoring are utilized to ensure excellence in the classroom.

“These recruitment, induction, mentoring, and evaluation processes provide greater assurance of teacher quality than arbitrary cut scores on teacher assessments and GPAs,” the NJSBA said in its statement. “These authentic measurements of teacher quality provide districts with significantly more information with which to ensure teacher quality and success.”

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