New Procedure for Teaching License Draws Protest Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times Barbara Madeloni, front right, who runs the high school teacher training program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with some of her students, who have refused to participate in a pilot program for a new licensing procedure being developed by the education company Pearson and Stanford University to be marketed to states nationwide. The idea that a handful of college instructors and student teachers in the school of education at the University of Massachusetts could slow the corporatization of public education in America is both quaint and ridiculous. Sixty-seven of the 68 students studying to be teachers at the middle and high school levels at the Amherst campus are protesting a new national licensure procedure being developed by Stanford University with the education company Pearson. The UMass students say that their professors and the classroom teachers who observe them for six months in real school settings can do a better job judging their skills than a corporation that has never seen them. They have refused to send Pearson two 10-minute videos of themselves teaching, as well as a 40-page take-home test, requirements of an assessment that will soon be necessary for licensure in several states. "This is something complex and we don't like seeing it taken out of human hands," said Barbara Madeloni, who runs the university's high school teacher training program. We are putting a stick in the gears. Lily Waites, 25, who is getting a master's degree to teach biology, found that the process of reducing 270 minutes of recorded classroom teaching to 20 minutes of video was demeaning and frustrating, made worse because she had never edited video before. "I don't think it showed in any way who I am as a teacher," she said. It felt so stilted. Pearson advertises that it is paying scorers $75 per assessment, with work "available seven days a week" for current or retired licensed teachers or administrators. This makes Amy Lanham wonder how thorough the grading will be. "I don't think you can have a genuine reflective process from a calibrated scorer," said Ms. Lanham, 28, who plans to teach English. At this point the Teacher Performance Assessment that Pearson and Stanford are developing is still in the pilot stage, being tested by 200 universities in more than two dozen states. While it is meant to supplement traditional assessment methods like classroom observation, in reality it would be the final word for states that adopt it. Student teachers who do not pass would not be licensed. Stanford officials say that, to the best of their knowledge, the UMass program is the only case of resistance. The student teachers at UMass complain that they were being told to take part in the pilot program by university officials without their consent and that there were inadequate confidentiality protections for the schoolchildren appearing in the videos being sent to Pearson. "As a parent, I wouldn't give my permission to videotape my child and send it off into the twilight," said Kristin Sanzone, 33, who is getting a master's degree. In previous years, parents had given permission to have their children videotaped for use by UMass instructors. But Ms. Madeloni said student teachers and principals had told her that they felt differently about sending videos off to a big company. "If there are concerns about UMass, there's someone nearby they can go to," she said. How do you complain to a corporation? Four local school districts that train student teachers declined to participate when they learned how the video would be used. This year, when Ms. Madeloni questioned UMass administrators, they played down the need for consent from the student teachers and school districts. One dean wrote in February that Pearson was doing a "field test," and "not a field research study," and so no special consent was required. In March, university officials reversed themselves, acknowledging that special consent forms were needed. An associate dean offered books of Post-its as prizes for the first six student teachers who turned in consent forms. The Post-its did not turn the tide. Jerri Willett, the chairwoman of the department of teacher education and curriculum studies, said because it was a pilot program, it had taken time to develop procedures. She said officials were meeting to develop a statewide policy for confidentiality and consent. Asked why so many students had refused to take part, Ms. Willett said they may have felt "forced" by faculty members. None of those who posed for a photograph or were interviewed by this reporter said they had felt pressured. E-mail: oneducation@ nytimes.com