Opinion ID: 3064937
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: NCLB Teacher Qualifications

Text: The Secretary has stated that an essential component of academic achievement and accountability is that students be taught by “highly qualified” teachers. Letter from Margaret Spellings to Chief State School Officers (Oct. 21, 2005), available at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/secletter/ 051021.html. “[T]eacher quality is one of the most important factors in improving student achievement and eliminating these achievement gaps.” Id. Congress provided that, by the end of the 2005-06 academic year, only “highly qualified” teachers (“HQT”) would instruct core academic classes in states receiving federal funding (the “100% HQT requirement”). 20 U.S.C. § 6319(a)(2)(A).2 To ensure that states and districts are on track to meet the 100% HQT requirement, NCLB also required that, beginning with the 2002-03 school year, new hires be “highly qualified.” Id. § 6319(a)(1). It is undisputed that, to date, some of California’s school districts have not met the 100% HQT requirement. States and school districts must develop plans to meet these mandates. Id. §§ 6311(a)(1), 6311(b)(8)(C), 6319(a)(2) (state plans); id. §§ 6312(b)(1)(N), 6312(c)(1)(I), 6319(a)(3) (local plans). Where states and districts do not meet the 100% HQT requirement, NCLB mandates that “poor and minority children” not be taught by “inexperienced, unqualified, or out-offield teachers” “at higher rates than other children.” Id. § 6311(b)(8)(C). NCLB also contains several reporting requirements. States and school districts are required to report annually accurate 2 “Core academic subjects” are “English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.” 20 U.S.C. § 7801(11); 34 C.F.R. § 200.55(c). RENEE v. DUNCAN 9469 information regarding their progress towards meeting the 100% HQT requirement. Id. §§ 6311(h)(1)(C)(viii), 6311(h)(2), 6319(b)(1)(A). States must also provide this information to the Secretary, id. §§ 6311(h)(4)(G), 6319(b)(1)(B), who then reports to Congress the nationwide statistics on “highly qualified” teachers, id. § 6311(h)(4), (5). Additionally, schools receiving Title I funds must inform a parent when a non-HQT teaches his or her child for more than four weeks. Id. § 6311(h)(6)(B)(ii).
In addition to requiring that all HQTs have a B.A. and competence in their subject matter, Congress defined “highly qualified” to mean that: (i) the teacher has obtained full State certification as a teacher (including certification obtained through alternative routes to certification) or passed the State teacher licensing examination, and holds a license to teach in such State, except that when used with respect to any teacher teaching in a public charter school, the term means that the teacher meets the requirements set forth in the State’s public charter school law; and (ii) the teacher has not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis. 20 U.S.C. § 7801(23)(A) (emphasis added). NCLB does not define the term “full State certification.”
On December 2, 2002, the Secretary issued final regulations defining the term “highly qualified.” 34 C.F.R. § 200.56. The regulation at issue states that a teacher can be “highly 9470 RENEE v. DUNCAN qualified” under NCLB if the teacher “[i]s participating in an alternative route to certification program,”3 id. § 200.56(a)(2)(ii), and demonstrates “satisfactory progress toward full certification as prescribed by the State,” id. § 200.56(a)(2)(ii)(4) (the “regulation”). The regulation, like 20 U.S.C. § 7801, has other requirements which are not at issue here.