S 896 (Turner, Greenstein) Under current State Board of Education regulations, all teacher candidates, both traditional and alternate route, must pass a performance-based assessment approved by the commissioner, currently the edTPA. This bill would eliminate that requirement.

The edTPA is redundant and actually serves as a barrier to individuals entering the teaching profession for both traditional route candidates who complete it during their student teaching, and alternate route candidates who complete it once they are already teaching in a district.

Traditional route candidates in an educator preparation program receive feedback from their cooperating teacher and a supervisor from their college. All new teachers, whether traditional or alternate route, are observed multiple times through the teacher evaluation process before they receive their standard certificate. The edTPA does not give any feedback to test-takers.

Removing this requirement will place decisions about teachers’ skills in the hands of individuals who are qualified to make those decisions, not in the hands of Pearson, a publicly-traded corporation.

It’s time to remove this barrier to becoming a teacher in New Jersey. Vote yes on S-896