G. Teacher Quality and Professional Development

1. State Definitions of Highly Qualified Teachers

How have states implemented the requirements to define "highly qualified teacher" and to develop a "high objective uniform state standard of evaluation" (HOUSSE)?

Most states meet the requirement to test the content knowledge of new teachers through the Praxis II subject assessments developed by the Educational Testing Service (41 states). States vary considerably in the passing scores that they require teachers to obtain on the Praxis II exams in order to be certified to teach or to be deemed "highly qualified" under NCLB.²⁶

Nearly all states (47) allowed veteran teachers to demonstrate their subject-matter competency through a high objective uniform state standard of evaluation (HOUSSE), as of the spring of 2005. The most common type of HOUSSE option involved a point system wherein teachers were allowed to accumulate a state-determined number of points in order to earn a highly qualified status (29 states). Most states allowed points to be earned retroactively for such things as successful completion of certain college courses (28 states) or publishing articles and/or receiving teaching awards or honors (23 states). Four states allowed teachers to earn some points for evidence of improved student achievement. Twenty-six states allowed teachers to earn one-quarter or more of their HOUSSE points for a specified number of years of prior teaching experience in their subject(s). Eight states used their current, initial teacher certification systems as their official HOUSSE option; they reported that the certification requirements contained high standards of subject-area expertise.²⁷

2. Teachers' Highly Qualified Status

How many teachers meet the NCLB requirement to be "highly qualified"?

The large majority of teachers across the country have been designated as "highly qualified" under NCLB. According to state-reported data for 42 states, 86 percent of classes were taught by highly qualified teachers in 2003-04.²⁸ Principal and teacher reports for 2004-05 provide somewhat lower estimates of the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers, but this is because a sizeable percentage did not know their "highly qualified" status. For example, 74 percent of teachers reported that they were considered highly qualified under NCLB, but 23 percent said they did not know their status and only 2 percent said they were not highly qualified.²⁹

Students in schools that have been identified for improvement were more likely to be taught by teachers who were not highly qualified than were students in non-identified schools. For example, only one percent of elementary teachers in non-identified schools said they were considered not highly qualified, compared with 5 percent in schools that were in the first or second year of being identified for improvement, 8 percent in schools in corrective action, and 6 percent of schools in restructuring.³⁰

Schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students have more teachers who are considered not highly qualified than do other schools. In high-poverty schools, for example, 5 percent of elementary teachers and 12 percent of secondary English and math teachers reported in 2004-05 that they were considered not highly qualified under NCLB, compared with one percent in low-poverty elementary schools and 3 percent in low-poverty secondary schools.³¹

3. Professional Development

To what extent are teachers participating in professional development activities that are sustained, intensive, and focused on instruction?

Most teachers reported receiving some professional development in reading and math content and instructional strategies, but fewer than one-quarter of the teachers participated in such training for more than 24 hours over the 2003-04 school year and summer. For example, 90 percent of elementary teachers participated in at least one hour of professional development focused on instructional strategies for teaching reading, but only 20 percent participated for more than 24 hours over the 2003-04 school year and summer.³²

Teachers in high-poverty schools were more likely to participate in professional development focused on reading and mathematics than were teachers in low-poverty schools. For example, 53 percent of secondary English teachers in high-poverty schools reported participating in professional development focused on in-depth study of topics in reading or English compared with 36 percent of their colleagues in low-poverty schools.

4. Qualifications of Title I Paraprofessionals

How many paraprofessionals meet the NCLB qualifications requirements?

According to principal reports, 63 percent of Title I instructional aides had been determined to meet NCLB qualification requirements as of the 2004-05 school year. However, 87 percent of Title I instructional aides indicated that they had at least two years of college (and/or an associate's degree) or had passed a paraprofessional assessment. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of Title I instructional aides reported that, of the time that they spent tutoring or working with students in a classroom, a teacher was present only half or less of this time.³³

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²⁶ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under No Child Left Behind.
²⁷ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under No Child Left Behind.
²⁸ Consolidated State Performance Reports, 2003-04.
²⁹ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.
³⁰ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.
³¹ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.
³² U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.
³³ U.S. Department of Education, Policy and Program Studies Service, unpublished data from the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.