Michael P. Alfano

The editorial written by Aram Ayalon about edTPA complained, without justification or facts, that edTPA is overly rigorous, demands too much of pre-service teachers, is managed by unqualified overseers employed by a greedy, for-profit entity and makes it more difficult to attract new teachers of color. These accusations could not be more wrong.

Without healthy emotional intelligence, children grow up unable to solve problems or interact effectively with peers. They struggle at school, in the workplace and in their personal relationships. We never can assume that school administrators, however well-educated and well-intentioned, are completely tuned to the emotional and behavioral signs and issues inherent to their specific community. Traditional principal and superintendent preparation simply has not focused on this. It’s critical that we move from a reactive to a proactive mindset, and address entire learning ecosystems.