Dr. Suzann Girtz, School of Education Associate Professor,  has recently been recognized by the American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Book Awards. Girtz, alongside her coauthor Dr. Keith Lambert, contributed a chapter to the 2017 winning recipient, titled Teacher Performance Assessment and Accountability Reforms: Impacts of edTPA on Teaching and Schools by Julie H. Carter (editor) and Hilary A. Lochte (editor).

The book earned publishing in 2017 and targets an audience including individuals of higher education, policymakers, regulatory bodies, and pre-service and in-service educators. It sheds light on the effect of edTPA (educational teacher performance), a rigorous exam created by Stanford’s SCALE, conducted by Pearson, overseen by the Professional Educator Standards Board, and required by Washington State Law. Essentially, prospective educators can maintain excellent standing during the entirety of a teacher preparation program, but will fail to obtain his or her teaching certificate unless the cut score for this exam is achieved.

In its analysis, the book presents diverse perspectives on the impact of edTPA and the conflict that exists for teacher educators struggling to understand edTPA while also preparing their candidates for the exam. Beyond that, the book dives into a historical overview of the neo-liberal interest and influence that has dominated the realm of public education.

Girtz has expectations for those involved in her profession to be advocates, and to communicate with state and federal bodies to help ensure that whatever regulatory decisions are made, that they are done so with proper understanding. It was toward this effort that she wrote her chapter. Her colleague from Whitworth University along with Girtz herself arranged and hosted a panel to inform legislative representatives about the effects of edTPA. They were invited to listen in on their constituents’ experiences and collaborate on ideas for future opportunities and possibilities. The two then wrote a chapter about that experience and how it worked to influence a future of justice.

Girtz discusses that in most cases, people exit the teacher prep program for a variety of reasons. However, this new need for an additional assessment now forces candidates to have their worked judged from afar, and for a cost-often impacting his or her presence in a teacher prep program.

“Candidates are expected to show that they are ready to enter the profession by doing this assessment, usually at the beginning – not end – of student teaching,” Girtz said. “For us in this book chapter – it is the assessment policy that we had the greatest issue with: the timing, the administration, the lack of acknowledging all of the other professionals’ judgements on the candidates’ performance, and more.”

For even longer than Girtz has been in the teaching field, an assessment has existed. But the edTPA was an attempt to increase validity and reliability of the results. She loosely compares it to a “bar exam for teachers.” The book tries to point out that it “disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable, while often selecting for characteristics that may or may not be most needed in our schools,” Girtz said. And regarding the teacher shortage, she argues that these new regulatory additions play a particular role.

“We have failed to lift up teaching as a desirable occupation in this culture, and every regulatory addition makes it seem less tenable, more costly and difficult, and simply less appealing as a career,” Girtz said. “If those additions were substantively shifting the classroom culture for the better, I would be the first to advocate for them. But this book paints a different picture.”

Girtz believes in vocal advocacy for any sort of significant changes to occur. Nonetheless, this book is used in various teacher preparation programs, outside of Gonzaga. She does believe that it provides a strong context for future work.

“Teaching is a joyful, challenging, fulfilling career that provides classroom opportunities as well as a host of others for a person looking for a career,” Girtz said. “Never has it occupied such an important role in our society. The perils of discouraging people from the field are numerous, and the way in which we do so is informed by a societal perception of teachers that will only change when people become more informed and vocal about the unintended impacts of well-meaning policies.”