Highly Qualified Teachers

As mentioned in the previous post, our society continues to try to improve things for different groups. About five years ago, a new federal law (referred to as the No Child Left Behind, NCLB) was passed that addressed improving the academic performance of groups, minorities, economically-disadvantaged, children with disabilities, that traditionally underperform other groups. High standards were set for all students along with incentives and consequences for schools, if students did not reach these standards. Good intentions are not easy to put into procedures and practice, so states and schools are confused and there is some level of resitance to the law and its implementation.

One of the requirements in the law is the concept of highly qualified teachers. Many times the groups mentioned above are seved by teachers who are not the strongest and teachers who are not certified in the core subjects, math, English, reading, science, that they are teaching. Periodically I have received or heard questions about the concept or regulations on highly qualified teachers. Federal and state regulations require that public schools have teachers (regular & special education) who are highly qualified (HQ). There is much that could be said about the concept and process of determining whether teachers are HQ and how school districts are impacted. Rather than give a lengthy discussion now, I will give some general comments and give more information if individuals have questions.

The concept is that teachers must have a minimum amount of college courses and training in a core subject before they can teach that subject. This also applies to special education teachers. For these teachers, the calculation includes not only the college courses and training the teacher has, but the number of years that they have taught the particular core subject. So a special education teacher might be HQ in a subject, but not have taken many college courses in the subject. Special ed teachers must still have a special education certificate or be working on one.

Some people believe or assume that schools can not employ or use teachers for subjects that they are not highly qualified in. While the goal is that all teachers would currently be HQ, the federal and state education agencies recognize that because of the teacher shortage that this will not happen. So schools and campuses are allowed to have regular and special ed teachers who are not HQ, but must have a written plan on how they will get current and future teachers HQ.

In Texas for example, beginning in school year 2007-2008, schools that have not reached 100% highly qualified status and also have not met AYP for 3 consecutive years, the education agency (TEA) will implement the following corrective actions required by Section 2141 Statute:
1. Schools will be required to implement an Accountability Agreement with TEA and jointly
develop a professional development program;
2. TEA will require professional development to meet the needs of the campuses;
3. TEA will provide Title II, Part A funds directly to campuses to meet identified needs; and
4. TEA will prohibit Schools from hiring additional paraprofessional FTEs.

In Texas, the school, not TEA, is responsible for providing technical assistance to teachers to ensure that they meet the highly qualified teacher requirements. The school also has the option of not renewing a teacher’s contract if the teacher fails to meet the contractual obligations. TEA is to ensure that school plans are implemented and that technical assistance is provided to schools.

So are all teachers of core subjects in a school district highly qualified? Probably not. Some large schools begin the year with 100's of substitutes filling vacant positions. Do parents know if their child's teacher(s) are HQ? They should. Schools are to tell parents if a non-HQ teacher teaches a core subject for longer than 4 weeks.

This is a condensed version of the confusing concept called highly qualified teachers.