You would think finding "highly qualified teachers" was equivalent to the search for the Holy Grail.
July 22, 2007 - At least the Bakersfield Chronicle apparently thinks so.
Of Kern's 250 or so schools, 141 traditional schools had yet to meet the No Child Left Behind requirement to have 100 percent highly qualified teachers as of October 2006. Of those 141 schools, about 74 percent are considered "high poverty."They quote the coordinator for teacher quality for the California Department of Education.
"That tells us right there the neediest kids in our state are still not getting access to those experienced, highly qualified teachers."The methods of recruiting and keeping highly qualified teachers vary. "Competitive salaries" and assuming student loans if they agree to teach in needy areas and bonuses are all considered.
---------------------- OPINION ----------------------
TT - To be a highly qualified teacher, you only need three things:
1. A bachelor’s degree
2. State credential or intern certificate/credential for no more than three years
3. Demonstrated competence in the core academic subject or subjects they teach. They can prove that competence in a number of ways, such as by passing a test or taking classes in that subject.
If it strikes you that those are what you thought were the minimal requirements all along to be a teacher, join the club. It's what the No Child Left Behind Act was all about. One of their core requirements was to ask for those three things to improve teacher quality.
The problem isn't the bachelor's degree. It's that colleges that awarded those degrees are turning out graduates who can't pass certification and licensing tests, let alone demonstrate competence in the core academic subject they teach by passing a simple test.
The worst part about this, however, is that the unqualified teacher continues to predominate in classroom. Despite failing either, or both, of these competency exams, teachers are given 1 to 4 years to practice teaching on your child, despite lack of aptitude. That's why retention rates are so bad. It isn't low salaries; it's low test scores. Over and over.
If 56% of Kern schools can't meet the NCLB Act requirement that 100% of the teachers are -- let's call it what it is -- minimally qualified -- it's because the Kern schools and the teachers unions don't want it to succeed. They're pinning their hopes on a change in the White House. That way, no one will know just how little they care about teacher quality.
And they will continue to cheat children out of an education, further miring blacks in poverty and Hispanics into the same low expectations. Uneducated voters don't vote. It's a win-win for incompetent schools.
