NCLB highly qualified teacher guidelines being met by school districts

                                                                                                                                                                                           Photo: Copyright Vidal

Section 1119 of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) details requirements and expectations regarding teaching qualifications.  These requirements resulted from conversations among policy makers about observed disparities between the levels of teaching effectiveness and overall quality of teaching in low-poverty vs. high-poverty school communities around the country.

Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) guidelines were implemented to ensure that effective, meaningful, student-focused, and 21st Century best practices were being implemented by teachers regardless of the demographics of their students.   The focus was to help improve student performance, achievement, and outcomes as a result of aligning the qualifications and effectiveness of teachers.

Developing every diverse learner’s needs was placed at the center of policy decisions made about federal and state preparation, licensing, and certification programs for new teachers.   Requirements for experienced and veteran teachers were also re-evaluated to determine if these teachers were highly qualified to teach the students they currently worked with.

In order to achieve HQT status teachers must:

• Hold at least a bachelor's degree.
• Be fully certified/licensed by the state they are employed by.
• Demonstrate competence in each of the core academic subjects in which the teacher teaches.

According to state departments of education, they “recognized the link between high quality instruction and student achievement, and further, the connection between highly qualified teachers and improved student outcomes.”

School districts support teachers in completing highly qualified status forms and meeting HQT requirements before forms are submitted to their state departments of education for approval.  Districts work first to assign teachers to positions for which they have HQT status.

HQT status becomes “permanent” for a particular teaching assignment once a teacher achieves HQT for that assignment.

With every new teaching assignment there must be a review of HQT status to ensure that all requirements have been met by the teacher.  Professional development and/or college coursework may be employed when teachers do not meet HQT guidelines to provide them with the balance of necessary requirements for a given teaching assignment.

A New Jersey 2008-2009 survey revealed that only 0.3 percent of New Jersey’s public school classes are not being taught by highly qualified teachers.  Both low-poverty and high-poverty districts around the country are working toward having a 100% HQT rate by the year 2014.

Sharon M. Biggs, M.A., is a wife, mother, and 21st Century educational leader who serves as Co-Chair & President of Lifeline Foundation, Inc.  This 23-year educator is also Founder, Editor, and Chief Writer of LifelineExtensions.blog.  View Sharon's other published works at www.examiner.com.

Contact Sharon directly for more information: sharonbiggs@mylifelinefoundation.org


"Children are the globe's most precious commodity."
(Terence H. Biggs, Jr. ~ 2009)