Rosa Valentin has been an educator in Springfield for roughly 30 years. In fact, she now teaches the teachers who go on to work with the district’s English learners.
Yet Valentin’s career growth has been blocked. Though certified to teach and having held vice principal roles in the Springfield Public Schools, Valentin has not scored high enough on one portion of the state licensure exam to be an administrator in a Massachusetts public school.
And Valentin sees the same fate befalling excellent bilingual educators who are blocked from becoming licensed classroom teachers for not scoring high enough on the writing portion of the MTEL — the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure.
"There’s a lot of research to prove that acquisition of a second language is not easy. And there is the cultural component, too," Valentin said, pointing to how she and other bilingual educators often move between two worlds of communication as they go from home to work.
Moreover, Valentin’s practical experience tells her that students do better when they see themselves represented among their educators. That is a reason she has stayed connected to a summer program that helps Springfield students, many from Spanishspeaking homes, overcome academic challenges.
"Having that cultural connection helps them succeed," she said.
In Springfield, English is not the first language for nearly 30 percent of the students, and 8 percent of the student population is white. The teaching force, however, is overwhelmingly white.
Like others pushing for greater diversity in the teaching ranks, Valentin said that the system based on MTEL results "isn’t benefiting the kids since it has narrowed the diversity in our school systems."
Such concerns are behind the MTA’s strong support for An Act relative to educator diversity, which is pending in the Legislature.
The bill would permit the state to develop alternatives to MTEL, allowing for a variety of ways to demonstrate the ability to be an effective classroom teacher.
"Just as one-size-fits-all assessments do not accurately demonstrate our students’ abilities, the narrow scope of the MTEL has been identified as discriminatory against educators of color and educators who are linguistically gifted but for whom English is not their first language," said MTA President Merrie Najimy. "There are other ways to demonstrate competency as an educator, and An Act relative to educator diversity — which closely mirrors a bill that MTA members worked on — sets the state on a path to bring further excellence into our classrooms."
Both Valentin and Najimy noted that a more diverse teaching force would benefit all students, not just students of color.
"This bill will help shatter stereotypes, allow more students to experience cultural affinity with their teachers, greatly expand the perspectives in our classrooms, and simply allow more people of color into the highly regarded profession of teaching. It will also influence our educator preparatory programs," Najimy said.
The bill has been favorably reported out by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education and was awaiting a vote by the full Legislature as of late April.
