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Not wanting to wait until after the fact, TCTA fired off a letter directly to the chief point person in charge of the U.S. Department of Education division responsible for preliminarily issuing a "reinterpretation" of the federal No Child Left Behind Act's highly qualified provisions that could potentially adversely affect thousands of new Texas elementary school teachers.
Per USDE, certain new Texas elementary teachers may not be highly qualified to teach elementary grades. The Texas Education Agency recently received information from the USDE calling into question whether certain new elementary teachers holding particular all-level subject certificates and certain 4-8 subject certificates are highly qualified to teach in grades EC-6.
TCTA responded, arguing forcefully that the USDE's reinterpretation of the law did not make sense if the law is meant to logically apply to all elementary school situations, including departmentalized grades.
The TEA recently issued a letter to school districts explaining that the USDE is newly interpreting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which states that the term "highly qualified," when used with respect to an elementary school teacher who is new to the profession, means that the teacher holds at least a bachelor's degree; and
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has demonstrated, by passing a rigorous State test, subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum.
Previously, the state's guidance had interpreted this to mean that an elementary teacher who was new to the profession and who had passed a subject-specific certification exam would have been considered highly qualified to teach the applicable subject area at the elementary school level.
However, under the new interpretation, any elementary teacher who was new to the profession when hired for the 2009-10 school year and whose demonstration of subject competency was based on passing one of the following exams would not be considered highly qualified for elementary grades until he/she has also passed a Generalist exam that tests subject knowledge in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies:
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These subject exams may still be counted as demonstrating subject competency for grades 7 and 8 in the subjects covered. The all-level art and music exams may still demonstrate subject competency for grades 7-12. The EC-12 special education exam may still demonstrate subject competency in reading and math for grades 7 and 8.
In the letter to school districts, TEA emphasized that it is in no way TEA’s intent that these new teachers be released from their teaching positions due to this new interpretation and that TEA is not requiring any changes to affected elementary school teachers’ highly qualified status at this time, pending further clarification from the USDE.
Accordingly, TCTA took the opportunity to argue the issue with USDE before it issues a final determination on the matter.
TCTA argued that in addition to being an illogical read of the statute, this requirement could potentially serve to discourage elementary departmentalized instruction at a time when students need deeper acquisition of subject matter earlier in the education pipeline in order to meet college readiness goals upon graduation from high school. Additionally, requiring teachers to take a certification exam that will do little to benefit their own instruction or the students they teach is likely to cause widespread resentment among the very content specialists we want to encourage to teach in our elementary schools.
TCTA solicited the help of its Washington D.C. lobbyist in making key contacts at USDE and among members of the Texas Congressional delegation in order to emphasize the urgency of this issue. TCTA also outlined specific actions that should be taken in the event the USDE persists in applying this new interpretation to Texas teachers. We will keep our members posted as the situation develops.
Updated: 10/28/09
