NCLB and highly qualified

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Home : 2003 : September : 27

NCLB and highly qualified
By Carson

We just had an inservice about this and here is what I learned:

I teach in NJ by the way

By November 3rd all teachers in the district have to prove that they are highly qualified or they need to begin the process of becoming
highly qualified.
There are several ways to do this:
A teacher who has taken and passed the Praxis exam, has a certificate in the field they are teaching and can produce college transcripts is already highly qualified and needs only fill in the appropriate form and attach copies of the above items.
Teachers who became certified before the Praxis was required (I think they

said 1984 and prior)are going to have to prove in other ways. There is a point system (you need to have 10 points) where a different value is given to various things.

All the schools in my district will be sending out letters to all the parents on September 30th that tells the parents that there are teachers in the district that do not fit into the "highly qualified" category. It is a general form letter.

After the paperwork is due on Nov. 3rd, they will begin sending letters to the parents in individual classrooms where they will now name the teacher of the class as not highly qualified.

I graduated college in 2000, so it's not a problem for me, but I'm wondering what is going to happen when parents begin receiving these letters. I know parents are going to start requesting that their child be put into a class of a highly qualified teacher because they are not going to understand what that means.

Sorry to you Bush supporters, but I can't wait until his term is over. He very well may be a great businessman, but education is different. NCLB sounds good on paper, but where is the money that districts need to support these changes.