On March 30, 2020, NYSED’s Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI) released a memo stating that prospective teachers who were completing clinical practice related to the edTPA examination this semester would be waived/exempted from certification exams if Pearson testing sites remained closed as of May 1. On May 1, the Pearson website had no announcement regarding the opening of test sites. On May 4, OTI released a new memo stating that some Pearson sites had opened on May 1, and therefore the edTPA/ATS-W and other exams would not be waived.

No teacher certification exam test centers have opened, as  New York State is on PAUSE until (at least) May 15, and teacher certification testing cannot be considered an essential business. However, because some test centers for nursing certification have been opened, OTI is claiming that Pearson test centers are open and the examinations will not be waived.

Governor Cuomo and the New York State Board of Regents, we are asking that you honor the commitment made in the March 30 memo, and waive the certification examinations, which are costly and at the personal expense of each educator.  In these challenging and unprecedented times, this is an additional burden that we did not expect based on the original OTI guidance.  We ask that you honor the policy that was announced on March 30.   

Please help us!

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