Title I schools required to notify parents of teacher status

Title I Part A of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that districts publicly report professional qualifications of their teachers and the percentage of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers. The Department of Education provides this information for districts and schools through the state’s Report Card, available on the department’s Web site. The percentages reflect the number of core academic classes that were not taught by highly qualified teachers the previous school year. 

The online Personnel Record Form (PRF) is set to record highly qualified status at the end of each school year. Teachers of core academic subjects who will attain highly qualified status by the end of the 2005-06 school year – due to completion of their third year of teaching – will be noted in the fall 2005 PRF Report as being highly qualified. However, the reality is that these teachers are not highly qualified until the end of the 2005-06 school year.

“Parents Right to Know” (NCLB Title I Part A 1111(h)(6)) requires Title I schools to notify parents if their child is being taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher that does not meet the requirements of highly qualified. This applies only to those teachers teaching core academic subjects. Notification should be in the form of a letter sent directly to the parents/guardians of children taught by that particular teacher. There is no requirement to report this information specific to a particular teacher in the newspaper or other form of public reporting.  For more information about this requirement, see the Title I Basic Web page. Look under “Reports.”

Based on the requirements above, districts are reminded of their responsibility to notify parents/guardians of the non-highly qualified status for teachers in a Title I school that are teaching core academic subjects. This requirement includes teachers who are starting the 2005-06 school year as non-highly qualified but will be considered highly qualified by the end of the school year.