Graduate students from the University of Washington in Tacoma are asking state leaders to waive an assessment they need to obtain their teacher certifications but are unable to complete because of COVID-19 restrictions amid a statewide teacher shortage.
About 30 candidate teachers sent a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee this month asking him to eliminate the edTPA, an assessment required by the state of Washington.
"Over the last year we have completed all other assessments and rigorous coursework to receive residency certification," stated the Aug. 11 letter. "We have also successfully completed months of in-classroom internships, which included teaching students under the observation of licensed teachers. The only obstacle preventing us from obtaining full residency certification is the edTPA -- a privately administered test that only a minority of states require."
The new teachers compared the change to the Supreme Court of Washington waiving the bar exam for lawyers earlier this year.
"New lawyers have received similar relief. New teachers deserve no less," they wrote. "We respectfully urge you to do so without delay to mitigate the ongoing damage teacher candidates are experiencing."
They're not alone in their concerns. Western Washington University students working to become teachers also are asking for the requirement to be waived. They have gathered at least 86 signatures toward that end, most of them from WWU teacher candidates and their professors as well as from teachers in school districts in Whatcom County.
They are among more than 300 signatures from across Washington state.
"Despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing many public schools to move instruction to a hybrid model or entirely online for the start of the fall semester, Washington State is still requiring teacher candidates to take the edTPA to attain certification," they wrote to the state.
"The edTPA is inequitable and unrealistic under these circumstances. It was not created for virtual teaching models and has not been modified to fit this format," they added.
Tara Lee, spokesperson for Inslee's office, told The News Tribune that they are waiting on further recommendations of a subcommittee of the Professional Educator Standards Board.
"The governor could not eliminate this requirement through his emergency powers as it is in statute -- but could waive a statute for one month," she wrote. "That would not be sufficient to address the issue."
Scott Overland, spokesperson for Pearson, which oversees the assessment, said Tuesday that Pearson "supports consistent, fair, and reliable standards for aspiring teachers and believes it is appropriate to provide flexibility for candidates to meet these standards during COVID challenges."
While the letter represents around 30 teacher candidates from UWT, teacher candidates from across the state have testified for changes, including those at the University of Puget Sound.
Washington is one of 20 states that require aspiring teachers to take the edTPA to gain their teacher certifications. It's been required since 2014.
The assessment costs $300 to take, and involves three tasks: writing lessons, recording video of a candidate delivering the lessons and assessment of student work.
But because of COVID-19, classes have moved to a remote platform, making it difficult for teacher candidates to carry out the assessment, said Jeannie Chea, a UWT teacher candidate from Puyallup.
"We have no access to do those things because we're not in the classes," said Chea, 46.
Due to the pandemic, they also can't come on campus to access materials or other resources they might need, Chea said.
Earlier this year, the PESB enacted emergency rules allowing teacher candidates to apply for one-year emergency certificates so they may teach next year. While they can teach, they are still required to complete the edTPA.
"It's a lot of writing -- a very stressful assessment," said Jacob Romney, a candidate teacher from UW Tacoma. "And at this point, they're asking us to do it as first-year teachers. The first year teaching is hard enough."
Chea said districts are also more likely to choose a teacher candidate who has a residency certification.
"A lot of our people cannot get jobs because districts are not very sure about these emergency certificates," she said.
Chea says she's one of the lucky ones and was able to get a teacher job, but knows others who haven't been as lucky.
"My supervisor told me last year at this time, all of her student candidates had jobs already. And right now I think only half of us have jobs," she said.
For some, waiving the edTPA doesn't go far enough.
The Washington Educators Association wrote in a blog post in July advocating to get rid of the assessment entirely.
"WEA's position is that Washington state needs to eliminate the edTPA requirement, period," the post stated.
Washington is facing a growing teacher shortage, according to a report by the PESB released in March 2019. The number of beginning teachers hired (3,237) surpassed the number of teachers finishing training programs (2,417) in 2016.
There are not enough teachers of color that look like the students they serve, said WEA spokesperson Julie Popper.
In the 2019-20 school year, 47.4 percent of Washington students were students of color, yet 2018-19 data shows 87 percent of educators are white, according to OSPI.
The letter to Inslee from UWT teacher candidates also criticized the assessment for its racial bias.
"The protracted failure to provide current teacher candidates meaningful relief from edTPA compounds the social and economic burdens they are already experiencing," the letter stated. "These stresses affect people of color disproportionately and threaten to drive excellent candidates from the profession. This is unjust on the individual level."
In June, the state of Georgia announced it would no longer require edTPA for a teacher certification, stating it was a barrier to the profession and for its diversity concerns.
Kie Relyea from The Bellingham Herald contributed to this report.
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