Out-of-Field Teaching More Common in Poor Schools

Despite reports from states claiming to have largely done away with out-of-field teaching under the No Child Left Behind Act, the practice persists in the nation’s schools—with a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority students, says an analysis of federal data.

Children in high-poverty schools are about twice as likely as those in more affluent schools to be taught by teachers who hold neither certification nor academic majors in their fields, says the report commissioned by the Education Trust, a Washington-based group that advocates for poor children.

“This should not be something that the federal government should have to tell the states to do,” said Kati Haycock, the group’s president. “The research evidence that teachers matter is overwhelming. There is not a state chief or a district superintendent anywhere who doesn’t know that teachers need to...