A teacher-certification compromise, and maybe a breakthrough
Jessica Bakeman
ALBANY—The State Board of Regents' decision to relax new requirements for teacher certification might be the first sign of a better relationship between the education department and the state teachers' union, which has a new leader.
After negotiations that appeared to be ongoing Tuesday morning, education commissioner John King presented the Regents with a revised version of a “safety net” proposal that allows teacher-candidates to fail a new exam and still get certified.
As of Monday afternoon, the Regents planned to consider a regulatory change that would have required students who fail the new edTPA performance assessment to retake it and pass within two years. King attributed the change to talks with unions, specifically mentioning the new president of New York State United Teachers, Karen Magee, during a meeting of the higher education committee.
“We certainly want to make sure that we are listening to feedback from stakeholders, and in particular want to make sure that we move forward productively with our partners at [United University Professions]and [Professional Staff Congress] and NYSUT,” King later told reporters, referring to the local unions representing SUNY and CUNY faculty, as well as their statewide umbrella organization. “They expressed a desire for us to modify the safety net in a way that would help ensure that we can move forward together productively, and we did so.”
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/04/8544486/teacher-certification-compromise-and-maybe-breakthrough
