Published: September 19, 2007

The Echo Chamber: Teacher Quality Under NCLB

September 19, 2007

With the No Child Left Behind Act in the throes of reauthorization, this month's Echo Chamber examines the debate over the law's teacher quality provisions. Under the current law, a highly qualified teacher is one who has at least a bachelor's degree, full state teacher certification, and demonstrated knowledge in the subjects taught. These provisions were the primary focus of a just-released U.S. Department of Education report, conducted by the American Institutes for Research in conjunction with RAND, analyzing results from the nation's largest teacher survey since NCLB was passed in 2001.

The report found that over 90 percent of public school teachers are 'highly qualified' under NCLB. However, the study's researchers noted troublesome patterns that suggest an uneven distribution of teachers who are not highly qualified. Students with limited English proficiency, students who are in special education classes, and students who attend high-poverty or high-minority schools are more likely than other students to be taught by teachers who are not highly qualified.

These findings are timely and will fuel the already heated teacher quality debates that are taking place around the law's reauthorization. So far, two hot-button topics have focused on addressing the uneven distribution of highly qualified teachers and linking teacher qualifications and performance to salaries.

Is the current definition of a highly qualified teacher appropriate, or should lawmakers raise the bar on what it means to be highly qualified? How can the federal law promote the equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers? Should school districts be encouraged to provide financial incentives to teachers for boosting student performance? See what people are saying in this month's Echo Chamber.

Kate Walsh, President, National Council on Teacher Quality

"Teacher quality is perhaps the greatest challenge facing struggling school districts. The House bill does in fact include some good provisions for addressing these challenges, such as premium pay to attract teachers to high-need schools and subject areas; better mentoring and induction for new teachers; performance pay; and longitudinal data systems that will allow tracking of teacher effectiveness, to name just a few.

These are the measures that Congress should authorize and enact, not provisions that mandate better bean-counting at the expense of common sense."

—"The case against comparability," Guest Editorial, The Education Gadfly, The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, September 13, 2007

Maureen Martin, President, Birmingham Education Association

"In order for NCLB to achieve its high standards, it has to permit schools more realistic flexibility in determining [teachers'] 'highly qualified' status. Of course, every classroom should be taught by a qualified, certified, caring teacher. But the rigid 'highly qualified' requirements force too many teachers to clear unnecessary hurdles, drive some qualified teachers out of the profession, and make it even more difficult to recruit and retain quality educators."

—"Goals Need Full Funding, More Flexibility," The Detroit Free Press, August 19, 2007

Jonathan Kozol, Author, Letters to a Young Teacher

"The real effect of No Child Left Behind is to drive away the tens of thousands of exciting and high-spirited, superbly educated teachers whom our urban districts struggle to attract into these schools. There are more remarkable young teachers like this coming into inner-city education than at any time I've seen in more than 40 years."

—"Why I Am Fasting: An Explanation to My Friends," Huffington Post, September 10, 2007

Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute

"Once upon a time, ensuring teacher quality with formal credentials made sense… [But] the notion that schools can compete for talent while demanding costly preparation of no clear value is as dated as the expectation that future teachers should decide as college freshmen whether they want to teach for the next thirty years... Reformers on both sides of the aisle [need] to ensure that the looming NCLB reauthorization does not allow grandiose schemes for teacher credentialing to undermine real-world efforts to improve teaching."

—"Suing to Shut Down Teach for America: When schools act like cartels, children are harmed," The American, September 4, 2007

Barnett Berry, President, Center for Teaching Quality

"Teacher certification standards are insufficient for the task at hand and there is a need for high-quality alternative approaches to recruiting and preparing teachers for high needs schools—like Chicago's Academy for Urban School Leadership. But the answer is not to do away with teacher education and certification standards, but to make them more rigorous as demanded by parents themselves."

—"Inside-the-Beltway Policy Wonks Spin the 'Highly Qualified' Teacher Lawsuit," Building the Teaching Profession Blog, September 6, 2007

Jim Horn, Educator

"For the Bushies, 'highly-qualified' means that teachers have a bachelor's degree in the subject areas they teach, and, bang, they're highly qualified. No teacher education required or desired, thank you… Now some real research [the AIR report] examines whether or not the Bush-Spellings definition of 'highly-qualified' has any value at all."

—"Should Highly-Qualified Teachers Like Kids?," Schools Matter Blog, September 5, 2007

Michelle Rhee, Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools

"Teacher standards were improved by NCLB with strong qualification standards. However, an emphasis on classroom results is also needed. We should use the data to measure effectiveness in the classroom to improve the quality of our educators."

—"Leaving No Local Child Behind," The Washington Post, September 10, 2007

Andrea Messina, Commission on No Child Left Behind, The Aspen Institute

"Teacher classroom effectiveness data should also be used as the basis to assure that poor and disadvantaged students have the same access as their more advantaged peers to effective teachers who have proven their ability to improve student achievement—not just equally high paid teachers.

This data can also be used as a fair and objective basis for other innovative reforms being pursued in the states and under consideration by the Committee, such as performance pay. The Commission has recommended that districts—particularly those that struggle with high rates of teacher turnover—explore options such as bonus pay to attract the most effective teachers and those teaching in hard to staff subject areas, mentoring new teachers, recruiting individuals from non-traditional routes."

—Testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor, Hearing on the Miller-McKeon Discussion Draft of the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, September 10, 2007