As teacher educators, we write you with grave concern regarding the expectation for teacher candidates to complete their Teacher Performance Assessment (CalTPA or EdTPA) in order to earn their preliminary teaching credential. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted teacher education programs across the state. With schools being shut down, virtual instruction and work packets have replaced meaningful human interaction. This has disrupted the ability for student teachers in K-12 settings to complete the state required CalTPA or EdTPA to receive a preliminary teacher credential and begin teaching in Fall 2020, further exacerbating a teacher shortage in marginalized communities. Below, we outline numerous inequities that make it difficult to complete the Teacher Performance Assessment. Without the proper environment and adequate support, it is unjust to expect our teacher candidates to complete the Teacher Performance Assessment.

The following barriers make it difficult at best and impossible at worst to meet the requirements of the Teacher Performance Assessment:  

**Mentor teachers and teacher candidates have not been trained to teach virtually and are now being tested on its competency in the midst of a pandemic.
**Not all schools and students have access to reliable internet, technology, and literacy in virtual instruction platforms.
**Many schools are only able to provide work packets, with no virtual instruction available. 
**The TPA requires a video of synchronous whole group instruction when many classes report low attendance to synchronous zoom instruction due to a lack of access and support in marginalized communities.
**Synchronous virtual instruction is not developmentally appropriate for young children. 
**Many candidates work while completing their credential, and due to COVID-19 shelter in place stipulations, many are out of work. Those that are able to work from home, have that additional stressor when trying to navigate virtual instruction.
**The TPA high stakes assessment is an additional cost the teacher candidates must pay out of pocket in addition to credential program costs, and they must repay if they fail and need to submit again.
**The proposed 1-year waiver would require new teachers to complete the TPA in the fall while trying to navigate the demands of a new job and the Beginning Teacher Induction program that is required of new teachers.

In addition to the logistical barriers, school communities are also experiencing unprecedented trauma and stressors that include:

**Insecurity of food, shelter, income and healthcare 
**Firsthand and secondhand impacts of disease and death
**Increased threat of domestic violence in homes practicing “shelter in place.” 

It is unfair to expect teacher candidates to demonstrate the TPE’s, where distance learning is severely impacted by these conditions. We believe in our teacher candidate’s abilities to cultivate safe learning spaces for students under pre-COVID circumstances. However, these unprecedented times call for more institutional and governmental support rather than placing the onus on individual teachers, especially emerging novice teachers, to nurture classroom safety when the entire world feels unsafe. 

For the reasons listed above, we call for the CalTPA and EdTPA to be cancelled for all 2020 California teacher candidates, as long as schools are expected to practice “distance learning” due to the pandemic. We applaud Governor Newsom’s quick action in the state of California that has helped to curve the effects of the pandemic, which has helped lead other states during this crisis. California now has the opportunity to reframe the discourse on distance learning and be a leader in truly serving all of our students and communities.