Impact of No Child Left Behind's Highly Qualified Requirements on Both Rural and Non-Rural Schools in Ohio:

Abstract Recruiting and retaining "highly qualified" special education teachers (HQT) is of paramount concern for school districts across the country, particularly in a field with persistent teacher shortages (Boe & Cook, 2006). However, the effects of this mandate on special education, and rural special education in particular, remain unknown (McLeskey & Billingsley, 2008). The goals of this project were to determine how the HQT mandate was affecting rural and non-rural schools and how university and school personnel are attempting to meet the HQT requirement in the state of Ohio. The project involved surveying representatives from groups of key stakeholders in Ohio. Major facets of the survey included awareness, measures taken to ensure HQT status, and overall impact. Results suggested that few major efforts are being undertaken and that few major effects are expected. Recommendations include the need for better flow of communication and clarification of the roles of various systems in ensuring compliance. Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2002), every teacher, including special education teachers, must be "highly qualified." This mandate requires special educators to have a documented background in each of the content areas that they teach. The standards for obtaining highly qualified status are set by each state (Rosenberg, Sindelar, 8c Hardman, 2004). Preservice programs must determine how to prepare highly qualified special education teachers; schools must either hire only highly qualified teachers or determine how all special education teachers can attain highly qualified status for all the subjects for which they serve as the teacher of record; practicing and preservice teachers must adhere to state guidelines if they hope to be retained. Although a reasonable goal in principle, several issues confound the possibility of adequate implementation of this policy in the area of special education with particular difficulty for rural special education. First, McLeskey and Billingsley (2008) reported that the vast majority (82-99%) of secondary special education teachers currently teaching content classes do not meet highly qualified regulations. Second, serious attrition rates, especially in rural schools, already keep many classrooms from being staffed by traditionally qualified special education teachers (i.e., a college degree in special education; Brownell, Bishop, & Sindelar, 2005; McLeskey & Brownell, 2007). Third, because the demand for entering teachers far exceeds the supply of graduates from traditional teacher preparation programs, a growing number of alternative routes to licensure are attempting to fill this gap (Cook & Boe, 2006; Rosenberg, Boyer, Sindelar, 8c Misra, 2007). In some states, teacher certification/licensure entails a college diploma and passing one exam. In sum, McLeskey and Brownell (2007) argued that there is no evidence that the highly qualified mandate is succeeding in increasing either the quality or the quantity of special education teachers. They stated an immediate need to "address issues regarding secondary content areas and highly qualified special education teachers" (p. 5). Because of these issues, the "highly qualified teacher" (HQT) mandate is predicted to have a greater impact on special education and rural education than other areas. In rural districts, many special education teachers would need to demonstrate proficiency in multiple areas (Gelman, Pullen, 8c Kauffman, 2004). This mandate could prove to be a serious barrier to producing and retaining special education teachers by placing more obstacles to obtaining licensure and to obtaining a position (Kossar, Mitchem, 8c Ludlow, 2005). It could also encourage die use of "quick fix" alternative routes to licensure at the possible expense of quality (Hardman, Rosenberg, 8c Sindelar, 2005; McLeskey 8c Brownell, 2007). On the other hand, it could have a positive impact on teacher quality by improving teachers' content background knowledge, increasing the number of content experts in rural schools, and facilitating teacher collaboration. …