This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

"Highly Qualified" Becomes Meaningless

“Highly Qualified” Becomes Meaningless

 

The signature education law of the George W. Bush administration was the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), otherwise known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  That law required that all teachers had to be “highly qualified”, meaning they had to hold degrees in their teaching field and meet state licensing laws.  Schools were required to notify parents, if their child’s teacher was not “highly qualified”.

Find out what's happening in Woodinvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

Sounds like they meant business, doesn’t it?  Well, hold on to your hats!

Find out what's happening in Woodinvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

There are many “alternative licensure” programs  for teachers in America, the most notable of which is “Teach For America”(TfA).  NCLB created problems for TfA, since their recruits couldn’t meet the standard.  In what amounts to a most amazingly hypocritical action, Congress then passed a law that contained an exemption for TfA from the “highly qualified” standard.  Congress passed the “highly qualified” law and then exempted TfA from it.  And that’s not the end of it.

 

The exemption was due to run out this year, so TfA had to find a way to get it renewed.  And they did, with the help of Senate Democrats, who inserted a renewal provision in the bill that resolved the Government Shutdown/Debt Ceiling debacle.  Senate Democrats had demanded a “clean bill”, meaning no extraneous provisions, and then added this very extraneous provision to the bill before passage.

 

The result of these two Congressional actions over the last few years is to make the concept of the “highly qualified” teacher in NCLB meaningless.  Such action has only one description for me; Hypocrisy by Congressional Fiat!

 

For more on this issue, read John Wilson posting on UNLEASHED;

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Woodinville