Y2K all over again?

Highly qualified deadline nears

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) calls for 100 percent of all classes to be taught by highly qualified teachers by the end of the 2005-06 school year. As this deadline approaches, many are asking: “What happens if we don’t make it?”

“There’s no easy answer to that question,” said Melody Schopp, director of the Office of Accreditation and Teacher Quality. However, she notes that guidance from the federal government “leads us to believe that reasonable, good faith efforts to reach this goal will be accepted.”

In 2003, the first year South Dakota was required to publish a report card under NCLB, the percent of classes not being taught by highly qualified teachers was 11.3 percent. In 2004, the percent dropped to 7.3. It remained steady at 7.3 percent in 2005.

At the state level, the Department of Education has been working aggressively to help school districts and individual teachers reach the 100 percent requirement. Content testing was implemented as one way for teachers to validate content knowledge. A passing score on the Praxis II is now required for certification in South Dakota. The department also developed HOUSSE rules for existing teachers – both regular and special education – to demonstrate content knowledge.

“We believe that most school districts also have taken an aggressive approach to reaching the highly qualified goal,” Dr. Rick Melmer, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Education, said. “But, we realize that changing staff and circumstances, as well as isolated rural locations, may prevent a district from reaching the 100 percent requirement.”

According to Melmer, the state Department of Education plans to follow the federal government’s lead in addressing the highly qualified issue. In other words, “good faith” efforts to achieve the standard will be recognized.

Schopp recommends that school leaders focus on the following key areas:

• Districts must continue to make reasonable efforts to reach the 100 percent requirement. District leaders should take steps to support teachers in achieving the highly qualified designation.
• Districts must accurately report their staff and teaching assignments.
• Schools that receive Title I funds must notify parents that they may receive information regarding the professional qualifications of their children’s teachers upon request.
• Schools that receive Title I funds must notify parents if their children have been assigned to or taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified.

“These are some of criteria that we will be judged on at the state level, so we need the cooperation of school districts to be sure that we, as a statewide education system, are taking this reasonable approach to implementation,” Schopp said.  

The big question, of course, is what constitutes a “reasonable” approach. The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) offered guidelines in a letter from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on Oct. 21, 2005.

According to that letter, USDOE will look at four key areas in determining whether a state is implementing the law and making a good-faith effort to reach the 100 percent requirement. USDOE will consider:

1. the state’s definition of a “highly qualified” teacher;

2. how the state reports to parents and the public on classes taught by highly qualified teachers;

3. the completeness and accuracy of Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) data reported to the U.S. Department of Education; and

4. the steps the state has taken to ensure that experienced and qualified teachers are equitably distributed among classrooms with poor and minority children and their peers.

To answer questions regarding the highly qualified issue, the South Dakota Department of Education has a number of resources posted on its Web site. Go to doe.sd.gov/oatq/ and look under “Administrators.” For more information, contact Deedra Gesinger, Office of Accreditation and Teacher Quality, at (605) 773-6934.