The U.S. Department of Education is more than a year late in releasing a congressionally mandated report on who is teaching the nation’s most underserved students.
The report is supposed to show whether English-language learners, students with disabilities, students of color, and low-income students are disproportionately taught by teachers who are still being trained in alternative-certification programs.
Congress inserted language into a spending bill to permit such teachers to be deemed “highly qualified” under the No Child Left Behind law even though most were still fulfilling certification requirements. In a nod to critics, Congress also directed the Education Department to prepare the analysis.
