Governor Malloy’s proposal can be read here.

AFT Connecticut Response to Gov. Malloy’s Certification Proposals

Governor Malloy today released his proposals to change certification for teachers in Connecticut.

Certification is a license to teach. A meaningful evaluation process, like the one we helped develop and support as part of the ongoing Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) process, is the means by which we assess a teacher’s performance and help them reach maximum potential.

“This proposal puts the cart before the horse,” said Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut. “Our focus this year is to improve education for everyone and that should begin with ensuring teacher quality by establishing rigorous teacher preparation,  meaningful evaluation and support.”

There are many ideas on certification that have merit. AFT Connecticut will be discussing these and other ideas with our members and continue to work with the members of PEAC to reach a collaborative agreement on what will work best for our state.

We note that the justification for these proposals is limited to a survey of superintendents. What’s more, only 15% of the respondents to the superintendents’ survey appear to be from school districts with the greatest need.

“We are very disappointed that the Governor has chosen to base these proposals on the opinions of only the superintendents and not the 50,000 educators who are doing the work of educating children.”

We hope that in the future a broader range of education professionals, including Connecticut’s 50,000 educators, will be considered.

AFT Connecticut is the second largest AFL-CIO union in the state, representing more than 28,000 professionals including teachers, paraprofessionals and school related personnel.

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