Senators Seek ‘Highly Qualified’ Refinements

Reducing teacher-quality gaps in public schools is central topic of hearing.

Washington

Lawmakers and educators alike showed interest here last week in supplementing the federal requirement for teachers to be “highly qualified” with ways of tagging and rewarding teachers who are also demonstrably effective.

At a hearing on the teacher-quality provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, senators asked eight experts from different walks of education how to tackle the gap in teacher quality between high- and low-poverty schools.

“I don’t think any of us minimize the challenge and difficulty of attracting people into underserved areas,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,...