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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2003)
Page 12 The INDEPENDENT, October 2, 2003 Federal act shows difficulty of defining highly qualified teachers The No Child Left Behind Act with individual students in all of fact that highlights how some of (NCLB) contains many impor- the subject areas affected by the requirements of NCLB are tant sounding designations in- their disability. While they may less useful to parents than they eluding the federal definition of also have an endorsement in might suppose. Parents of high a “highly qualified” teacher, another area...such as lan- school students in Banks and While having highly qualified guage arts or math...it would Vernonia, for instance, will not teachers in classrooms is the be nearly impossible and preb- receive the same notification of goal of all school districts, close ably counterproductive for spe- teachers who have not re examination of the federal defi- cial education teachers to ob- ceived the highly qualified des nition reveals problems. tain endorsements for every ignation as will parents of the The salient facts of the fed- subject area that they teach, elementary schools named eral definition of a “highly quali- Therefore, since these special- above. fied” teacher are that teachers ists are nearly always teaching of core subjects (English, read- “outside” of their core area, as State ranks high for ing, language arts, math, sci- currently defined in the federal ence, foreign languages, social law, they cannot be designated percent of Highly studies and the arts) must: “highly qualified teachers,” in Qualified teachers 1. ) Be fully licensed by the spite of the fact that they are According to a news release state, endorsed in, and are teaching, from the Oregon Department of 2. ) Hold at least a bachelor’s special education classes. Education, Oregon ranks well degree, above the national average, 3.) Meet state requirements Special attention for with 82 Percent of al) classes to demonstrate mastery of sub- — *— u‘ u-- u'--------J . being taught by u:" highly qualified ject area, and High Poverty schools teachers. The national average 4.) Be assigned to teach in While nearly all schools are is less than 55 percent. Self- the area of their academic cer affected under the NCLB, only contained classrooms (where tification. those designated as “high students remain with the same poverty schools” must notify teacher all day) have 94 per- SpecialistS may not Parents if a teacher who does cent highly qualified teachers, ho “hinhh/ nnalifiari” not meet the federal definition as defined by the federal stan ce riigniy quailTiea of highly qualified is teaching dard. Though high poverty It is element Number 4 that students. The definition of high schools in Oregon have only 71 could create problems, espe poverty schools is those with percent of classes taught by cially in small districts, in meet 50 percent, or more, of their highly qualified teachers, this is ing the NCLB requirement that students being eligible for still well above the national av all teachers must be “highly free/reduced lunch. Applying erage. qualified" by the 2005-2006 this definition to the local area, school year. Special education only Banks Elementary School, State will require a classes could be a particular Lincoln Grade School and Dlan Of im orovem ent problem for the following rea- Washington Grade School sons: qualify as Title 1 (High Poverty) Susan Castillo, State Super- Because special education Schools. intendent of Education, said teachers are trained to meet Only 35 Oregon high ^ a^ schools will be required to the needs of students with schools are Title 1 schools, a submit a plan to the state by learning disabilities, they re ceive their certification, or en dorsement, in special educa tion, rather than in a specific subject area. Typically, a spe cial education teacher works October 15, explaining how they will try to increase the number of highly qualified teachers. No one knows how the problem in special educa tion will be resolved, but it ap pears that some change will have to be made in the law to accommodate these situations. “The U.S. Department of Ed ucation sent its Highly Qualified Teacher Assistance Team to meet with the Oregon Depart ment,” Castillo said. “We were the first state in the nation to request a meeting, and ODE and our partners (State Board of Education, Teacher Stan dards and Practices Commis sion, Oregon Education Associ ation, Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, Oregon School Boards Association, Oregon School Employees As- sociation, and others) spent the entire day ‘pushing back’ on the definition, especially as it re lates to middle school teach ers.” Most local teachers meet definition Qf “highly qualified” The vast majority of staff in both Banks and Vernonia meet the highly qualified require- ments, except for those in spe- Cial education- ln Vernonia, one special education teacher and one middle school teacher do not meet the highly qualified standard. According to Superin- tendent Mike Funderburg let- Snapshot approach may catch the public off guard The highly qualified teacher designation is another “snap shot” of information available about schools, along with state reports cards and national an nual yearly progress (AYP) rat ings. The public would be well advised to remember that snapshots can present very dif ferent views of the same sub- ject, and it’s quite possible that none is particularly accurate, Nearly everyone has had a pic- ture taken when their mouth was full. Sentry BANKS " M I N I STORAGE ^»'s Ta° ters have been sent to parents of students in these classes. According to administrative assistant Mario Mosser, Banks has two special education teachers who do not meet the standard. Banks also has a sci ence teacher, who will be retir ing this year, who cannot meet the definition of highly qualified because the integrated science curriculum that he teaches was not an area of endorsement when he received his teaching license. Teachers are also working to upgrade their endorsements. The Teacher Standards and Practices Commission reports that over the summer nearly 1,000 teachers requested addn tional certification to meet the highly qualified definition. HisuKiutuiiKnaar For every month you pay we’ll give you an additional month FREE* (up to six months) TRIPLE PLAY SPECIAL Pay 1 Month get 2nd Month FREE FOR 3 DAYS Pay 2 Months get 3rd & 4th Months FREE 3 MOVIES o r DVDs. SO-R $ 3 .0 0 f Games 2 days $3.50 Pay 3 Months get 4th, 5th, & 6th Months FREE 1 Tan 10 Tans 15 Tans 20 Tans $5.00 $ 3 5 .0 0 $ 4 8.75 $ 6 0.00 Mon - Sat 9 am - 7 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm 165 N. 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