For years, California has been faced with a shortage of teachers
that predated the pandemic but which the pandemic certainly did not
help. A key factor that exacerbates this shortage are the high
stakes teaching performance assessments (TPAs) used in the state,
such as the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA),
the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), and the
Reading Instruction Competency Assessment (RICA).
These act as overly restrictive barriers preventing us from
solving not just the teacher shortage but also our significant
teacher diversity problem. This is why the introduction of Senate
Bill 1263 last year was a sign of hope and a step in the right
direction.
The original version of SB 1263, in essence, sought to dismantle
the use of TPAs in the state of California and was strongly
supported by those of us at the California Alliance of Researchers
for Equity in Education (CARE-ED), and the California Teachers
Association (CTA).
But since its introduction, the bill has been modified to keep
TPAs intact and instead implement a review panel to oversee the TPA
and make recommendations about it to the California Commission on
Teacher Credentialing (CTC), the agency tasked with overseeing the
TPA.
We in CARE-ED and the CTA found this development to be deeply
disappointing. While there are naturally differing viewpoints about
the TPAs, with voices calling for keeping the assessments intact,
it is education researchers and actual teachers on the front line
who grapple with the realities of classroom pedagogy on a daily
basis and are best positioned to know if TPAs are serving their
stated purpose of ensuring qualified teachers or are actually
undermining this very goal.
In theory, TPAs are designed to measure and assess the
educational knowledge, skills and readiness of teachers and predict
their effectiveness in the classroom. In addition to being a
measurement tool, they are also framed as being a learning
experience in themselves by providing student teachers with
feedback regarding their performance.
In practice, however, TPAs are a severe source of stress and
strain on student teachers, many of whom come from disadvantaged or
underrepresented backgrounds and are already overburdened in
various ways.
In 2022, I was part of a team of researchers at CARE-ED that
examined the pass rates of the edTPA, CalTPA, and RICA according to
different demographic groups. What we found were consistent racial
disparities across all three assessments. In effect, the TPAs are
functioning as racialized gatekeepers systematically impeding
candidates of color — especially Black, Hispanic, Native American,
Pacific Islander, and Southeast Asian candidates — from attaining
certification. This exacerbates the teacher shortage and the
diversity gap and undermines efforts to mitigate them.
Then there are the expenses involved with the TPA process which,
while temporarily waived during the pandemic, have been resumed.
The TPA consists of two cycles, each one costing $150. This is in
addition to the California Subject Examinations for Teachers
(CSET), which also costs anywhere from a minimum of $63 up to a few
hundred dollars. Furthermore, there is the Reading Instruction
Competence Assessment (RICA), which costs over $200.
These fees are all in addition to the expenses student teachers
are already paying while completing their coursework, such as
tuition, books, supplies and living expenses. And it’s helpful to
remember that many student teachers are trying to make ends meet —
while raising families, in many cases — with juggling the full
responsibilities of leading classrooms of 30-plus students and
completing coursework requirements and, at the same time, having to
fulfill the stringent requirements of the TPA within the one year
they are allotted upon registration.
Yet, despite the steep costs and stress of the TPAs that student
teachers face on top of juggling so many other challenges, there is
often also a lack of support from the teacher preparation programs
they are enrolled in, as well as insufficient support from state
and local government.
This is why providing concrete support, both financially and
educationally, for student teachers is one of my priorities as
interim dean for the school of education at Notre Dame de Namur
University. If we can’t relieve student teachers of the burden of
TPAs, then we can at least alleviate the burden of some of their
expenses and provide as much educational support as possible while
they navigate the TPA process.
Based on our research at CARE-ED and the CTA and our many
collective years of working with student teachers, we believe the
best-case-scenario would be to pass SB 1263 as it was originally
written. But since the bill has been modified, I would urge that at
the very least the review panel that has been proposed in lieu of
removing the TPAs have fair representation.
This means that representation from the CTC, the aforementioned
agency tasked with overseeing the TPA, should be minimal, and there
must be a just representation of teacher educators and, most
importantly, teachers themselves, because they are the ones who
best understand the realities of teaching and what they need to do
their jobs. This is critically important. Otherwise, we run the
risk of losing this precious opportunity to address California’s
teacher shortage and lack of teacher diversity in a way that could
make a real difference.
About Notre Dame de Namur University
Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a Catholic,
not-for-profit, coeducational institution serving adult learners
from diverse backgrounds. Established in 1851 by the Sisters of
Notre Dame de Namur, NDNU is the third-oldest college in California
and the first authorized to grant women a baccalaureate degree. The
university is WSCUC accredited and offers master’s degree and
degree completion programs in business, education, and psychology,
as well as teacher credentials. NDNU maintains a strong commitment
to academic excellence, social justice, and community engagement.
For more information, visit www.ndnu.edu
Kurt Allen
Notre Dame de Namur University
650-508-3533
pr@ndnu.edu