Teaching Profession

Teacher Quality Might Be More Elusive Than Cited

By Bess Keller — November 12, 2003 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A study suggests that many states’ own perspectives on how close they are to meeting the federal requirement for a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom is a little too rosy, and that significant policy changes may be required to meet the goal.

“Meeting NCLB Goals for Highly Qualified Teachers: Estimates by State from Survey Data” is available from the Council of Chief State School Officers. (Requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.)

The study from the Council of Chief State School Officers, in Washington, looks at data from a federal survey of 60,000 public school teachers conducted in the 1999-2000 school year to gauge how many teachers in grades 7-12 are highly qualified in the subjects they teach.

Called the Schools and Staffing Survey, it drew on a representative sample of teachers in each state, who were asked to report on whether they held full certification for the subjects they taught and had college majors or the equivalent in those subjects.

Those criteria are the two primarily used to define a highly qualified teacher in the No Child Left Behind Act and were employed in the study to measure how far states had progressed by 2000 in putting such teachers in secondary school classrooms. For each state, the report estimates the percentage of secondary teachers who are fully certified and have majors in their subjects.

Downward Trend

While the states are able, under the law, to establish other criteria that substitute for a college major, tallies of teachers who meet the two primary criteria allow states and subjects to be compared on a roughly equal footing, according to the study.

It is also possible to look at trends in teacher qualifications over time because the same data were collected in the 1993-94 school year, the author, Rolf K. Blank, writes.

Looking at the proxy data, Mr. Blank concludes that “only about two-thirds of secondary teachers in science and math would meet the current NCLB criteria of highly qualified.” The rate is higher in English and particularly social studies, according to the research.

Only Arkansas, Minnesota, and Rhode Island, for instance, had more than 85 percent of their math teachers with both full certification and college majors or minors. In science, just four states—Minnesota, Idaho, Iowa, and New Jersey—had more than 85 percent with those qualifications.

That picture contrasts somewhat with that drawn from data on teachers provided by the states themselves under the federal law. Those figures for all 50 states were made public for the first time last month.

A majority of states said at least four out of five classes in all the core subjects were taught last year by highly qualified teachers. (“States Claim Teachers Are ‘Qualified,’” Oct. 29, 2003.) Some experts observed then that those figures made meeting the federal mandate for teachers seem imminently achievable in most states.

What’s more, the figures from the two federal surveys used by Mr. Blank show that in all four academic subjects, the proportion of highly qualified teachers “did not improve in the majority of states during the 1990s.” The reasons, he writes, may include growth in enrollments, increases in teachers per student, and decreases in class sizes, sometimes mandated under state law.

Given the downward trend for the proportion of teachers with both qualifications, the paper says, “the prospect of states meeting the standard of highly qualified teachers set by NCLB ... appears very difficult to accomplish.” To do so, Mr. Blank adds, most states will need to take significant policy actions.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar Navigating the Rapid Pace of Education Policy Change: Your Questions, Answered
Join this free webinar to gain an understanding of key education policy developments affecting K-12 schools.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Explainer Teacher Pay, Explained: Salary, Benefits, and Pensions
Learn how teachers are compensated, and the role that states and districts play in setting pay.
Illustration concept of chalkboard with a money symbol drawn and in the background are a people that represent teachers and administrators.
Liz Yap/Education Week and iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession Teachers, This Newsletter Is for You
EdWeek's Teacher Update is an email you'll actually want to read.
1 min read
A teacher reads a story to her prekindergarten students at UCLA Community School.
A teacher reads a story to her prekindergarten students at UCLA Community School.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed
Teaching Profession Movement Breaks Aren’t Just for Kids—Teachers Need Them Too
Teachers who integrate movement into their daily routines can enhance their well-being and effectiveness.
4 min read
Teacher Jazzmyne Townsend works with students during a small group reading lesson at Stanton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on April 3, 2025.
Teacher Jazzmyne Townsend works with students during a small group reading lesson at Stanton Elementary School in the District of Columbia on April 3, 2025.
Richard Pierrin for Education Week
Teaching Profession Opinion Teach For America's Outgoing CEO Reflects on Her Tenure
How changes to the education and political landscape have affected the organization since its founding 35 years ago.
9 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week