As a rule that requires a RFA, RAFA or JIS, this rule will be initially reviewed in the calendar year 2024, which is no later than the 3rd year after the year in which this rule is being adopted.

Since publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the State Register on April 28, 2021, the State Education Department (the “Department”) received the following comments on the proposed amendments.

1. COMMENT: Commenter describes that the pandemic may be lifting, but schools and faculty will still be playing many roles to support learners in the coming years. As such, commenter states that the edTPA must not be a mandate at this time and does not make sense, and the edTPA safety net must be upheld.

DEPARTMENT RESPONSE: Because the comment is supportive of the extension of the edTPA safety net through the 2021-2022 academic year, no response is necessary.

2. COMMENT: Commenter supports the extension of the edTPA safety net through the 2021-2022 academic year and advocates for the eventual sunsetting of the consequential use of edTPA as a teacher certification requirement. Commenter states that although the Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written (ATS-W) is not truly a performance-based assessment, it serves to hold the place as such until a suitable, valid, reliable and equitable performance-based assessment becomes available in New York State and that the ATS-W is significantly less dubious and harmful than edTPA.

Commenter indicates that candidates who completed their teacher preparation programs during the 2013-2014 academic year and later were subjected to the new edTPA certification requirement and that the state average of candidates who passed certification exams over the three academic years from 2010-2013 compared with 2013-2016 fell by 10 percentage points to 83% using Title II records. Commenter also explains that researchers have found that edTPA remains dubious regarding its validity and reliability, and New York researchers have long documented it has been harmful to teacher candidates.

DEPARTMENT RESPONSE: The comment is supportive of the extension of the edTPA safety net through the 2021-2022 academic year. The Commenter did not describe how they calculated the state average certification exam pass rates for candidates during each three-year timeframe referenced. The Department therefore cannot confirm if the pass rates are accurate. In addition, many factors impacted average certification exam pass rates during the timeframes referenced, including that there were different sets of certification exams required during the 2010-2013 and 2013-2016 time periods. Nevertheless, this portion of the comment, as well as the portion of the comment relating to the teacher performance assessment requirement for certification are outside the scope of the proposed regulation. Therefore, no changes to the proposed rule are needed.