Unlike traditional professions, teachers have only limited authority over key work-place decisions. Like traditional professions, teaching is subject to an elaborate array of state licensing requirements designed to assure the basic preparation and competence of practioners. Unlike traditional professions, however, there is little regulation of how teachers are actually employed and assigned. Most states do, indeed, possess explicit policies acknowledging misassignment as an unsound practice. But unknown to the public, misassignment of teachers typically is permitted by state law.
Some states have no regulations concerning teacher assignment.
Others have regulations delimiting the extent to which administrators may assign teachers to teach subjects for which they are not officially qualified. The result is that misassignment is an accepted administrative technique. In this context, many principals find that assigning teachers to teach out of their fields is often not only legal but more convenient, less expensive, or less time-consuming that the alternatives. For example, rather than find and hire a new physics teacher to teach a newly state-mandated physics curriculum, a principal may find it less expensive to assign a biology teacher to teach it. When faced with the choice between hiring a fully qualified candidate for an English position or hiring a less qualified candidate who is also willing to coach a major varsity sport, a principal may find it more convenient to do the latter.