The 'Highly Qualified Teacher' Dodge

This NYT editorial calls on Duncan to do more to address the horrific yet
widespread practice of assigning the worst teachers to the students who can
least afford them:

November 13, 2009

NYT Editorial

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13fri2.html

The 'Highly Qualified Teacher' Dodge

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been widely held in high regard since he
was appointed in January, but no honeymoon lasts forever. Mr. Duncan's came
to an abrupt end earlier this week when he issued long-awaited rules that
the states must follow to apply for his $4.3 billion discretionary fund,
known as the Race to the Top Fund, and the second round of federal financing
under the $49 billion federal stimulus package known as the state fiscal
stabilization fund.

The rules for the Race to the Top Fund, which is designed to reward states
that embrace reform and bypass those that do not, are generally sound and
have been greeted with enthusiasm. But some school reform groups and some in
Congress have reacted with dismay to the part of the stabilization fund that
was supposed to require the states to end the longstanding and reprehensible
practice of shunting unprepared and unqualified teachers into the schools
serving the poorest students.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was clear in requiring states to remedy
situations in which high poverty schools were being disproportionately
staffed by teachers who were inexperienced, unqualified or teaching in
fields that they had not majored in.

The country would be much further along on the reform trail had the Bush
administration followed the law. Instead, it allowed the states to define
away the problem by re-labeling the existing, inadequate teacher corps as
"highly qualified."

Congress tried to discourage the use of inexperienced and unqualified
teachers a second time when it passed the stimulus act. Education advocates
inside and outside Congress expected that the stabilization fund application
would be explicit and ambitious on the issue of teacher equity. They were
understandably disappointed to find the issue couched, once again, in
euphemistic language that asks the states to describe in vague terms whether
the teacher corps is "highly qualified."

The Congressional Black Caucus is unhappy with this approach. The Education
Trust, an influential research group that deals with reform issues, accused
Mr. Duncan of papering over a serious problem and squandering an opportunity
to force "truth-telling about unfair teacher-assignment practices."

The language in the application reflects timidity at the White House and in
Congress, where some voices wanted to delay the fight over this issue until
next year when Congress will likely reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act. The language also reflects the sometimes excessive influence
of boutique alternative certification programs, which want to keep doors
open for teachers who might be shut out under traditional criteria.

But the facts on the ground remain inescapably clear. Children in poor
neighborhoods will continue to be poorly served at school until Congress
pushes the states to provide them with better, more effective teachers.