Professor Emeritus Drew Gitomer (Rutgers Graduate School of Education) and Associate Professor Rachel Garver (Montclair State University) spoke at the New Jersey State House on Friday, October 24th discussing their recent report which examined how teacher preparation programs have adapted after the state removed the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) as a requirement for teacher certification. This seminar was hosted by the New Jersey State Policy Lab, the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and Rutgers Government Relations as part of the ongoing “Policy in Practice” speaker series.
“After the edTPA was repealed, I felt this was a unique opportunity for research,” explained Drew Gitomer, co-author of the report. “We had the chance to observe policy evolve in real time and speak with the people involved in educator preparation programs and the NJDOE.”
In 2022, New Jersey removed the edTPA as a statewide requirement for teacher certification. Under the new policy, each educator preparation program (EPP) in the Garden State was responsible for designing and/or selecting a performance-based assessment to evaluate their own teacher candidates. Over the fall of 2023 and 2024, researchers conducted a series of interviews with teacher education institutions throughout the state to better understand how they were adapting to this latest policy change. This report was authored by Drew Gitomer, Rachel Garver, Emily Hodge (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Colleen McDermott (Rutgers Graduate School of Education).
Dean Stuart Shapiro with the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy provided opening remarks to the seminar, and George LeBlanc and Eugene Lepore with Rutgers Government Relations provided outreach and support to ensure this latest presentation was a success. We are grateful for all those who attended, including individuals from the Office of Legislative Services, Rider University, the New Jersey Education Association, and the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
Policy in Practice is a new, ongoing speaker series organized in collaboration with the NJSPL, the Bloustein School, and Rutgers Government Relations, with the goal of deepening connections between researchers and policymakers at the local level. Interested attendees are encouraged to contact policylab@ejb.rutgers.edu to be notified of the next event.