From eliminating edTPA to holding charter schools accountable, CEA’s calls for much-needed change to elevate public education and our profession are reverberating.
Two compelling opinion pieces recently published in the CT Mirror and Connecticut Post, echo our calls to eliminate the burdensome, unnecessary, and expensive edTPA assessment for pre-service educators and reject efforts to fast-track approvals for charter schools that operate using public school dollars without the same standards for accountability and transparency.
Hearst Connecticut’s editorial board this weekend cautioned against two bills before the legislature that would recklessly speed up approval of privately operated charter schools and tie their funding into the regular Education Cost Sharing system that helps support Connecticut’s public schools.
“Legislators need to slow down and carefully consider the ramifications,” the op-ed read, emphasizing that charters’ “essentially private nature is all the more reason they should be viewed skeptically — this is public money, and there is nothing more important than children’s education. That should not be something to be debated behind closed doors.” Read more here.
Meanwhile, calls to diversify our profession got a boost from an educator-turned-administrator whose op-ed in the CT Mirror begins, “Did you know that Connecticut is the only state in New England, including New York, to require college students studying to become public school teachers to take the edTPA? This unnecessary standardized test is not only a waste of money, but is a barrier to helping Connecticut develop a more diverse teaching pool.”
The Norwich school principal continues, “Having served as an educator in Connecticut’s public school system over the last eight years, I often hear conversations around the recruitment, retention, and mentorship of educators who are Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC). However, these conversations almost always fail to acknowledge the fact that Connecticut has added more certification requirements…like the Praxis series tests and EdTPA, making it more difficult for people who look like me to become a certified public school teacher.”
Indeed, at CEA’s Early Career Educator Conference earlier this spring, new and aspiring educators shared their own edTPA hurdles—financial and otherwise—that have caused them to question their career choices and have kept talented classmates and colleagues from joining our profession.
Read more on the issue here, and watch for your CEA Advisor later this week for the full story.
