NJ Senate Passes Bill To Eliminate Test For Teachers

NEW JERSEY — The New Jersey State Senate passed a bill last week that would eliminate a test that aspiring teachers have to take to be licensed.

The bill, S-896, which would eliminate the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), was passed with bipartisan support. The bill now moves on to the New Jersey Assembly as A-677.

The New Jersey Education Association has criticized the assessment, calling it "an expensive, long, complicated process that takes precious time away from more effective teaching, peer collaboration and authentic student interaction."

The current teacher shortage is exacerbated by edTPA, NJEA said.

"EdPTA is unnecessary since New Jersey's education majors/candidates already are assessed throughout their college experience by professionals who have dedicated their careers to education," NJEA shared on their website. "The assessment is also a financial burden to teacher candidates as they must now devote a full year to student teaching – while continuing to pay for the experience and other college courses – pay for the Praxis Core Assessment, the Praxis II Assessment and now the edTPA."

Educators have recently been calling for removal of edTPA. A letter was sent to New Jersey legislators co-signed by educators asking for the passage of the bill.

"From the detrimental effects edTPA has on pre-service teachers, cooperating teachers and their districts, to its lack of statistical reliability and validity as a tool for measuring teachers’ skills and knowledge, ending edTPA is a necessary next step in recruiting qualified educators and expanding and diversifying the teaching workforce," educators wrote in the letter.