Continuing his fight to improve New York’s education system, Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square), Ranking Minority Member of the Assembly Education Committee, recently joined his colleagues on the Assembly Education and Higher Education committees to discuss the newly implemented edTPA (Education Teacher Performance Assessment).

“I continue to hear great concern from New Yorkers about Pearson’s expanding role in our education system. The fact that their scoring of these assessments is being used to determine whether a candidate is ready for the classroom, rather than the supervising teachers, is troublesome to many,” said Ra.

State lawmakers reacted quickly to the outcry of discontent from those affected by the exam, introducing a bill that would delay the assessment for another year. In response, the state Board of Regents voted on Tuesday night to enact a “safety net.” This measure will allow education students who fail the edTPA to become certified by taking the traditional written exam until June 2015.

“I believe that the Regents have taken a good first step,” said Ra. “But I, along with other members of the state Legislature, will be keeping a close watch to ensure that the New York State Education Department (NYSED) takes the concerns of all involved parties into account.”

Members of NYSED, representatives of teachers and education professors, administrators from schools of education, and students currently subjected to the edTPA also participated in the hearing.