Highly Qualified Teacher under No Child Left Behind

What does it mean for you?

Dec. 2008 - The following explanation is from the Montana Office of Public Instruction:

One of the many requirements associated with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal law relates to the qualifications of Montana teachers.

Since 2001, when the federal law was implemented, Montana has argued that the license awarded to teachers adequately demonstrates that teachers are qualified to provide instruction.

After years of deliberation between the United States Department of Education and the Montana Office of Public Instruction, the Department of Education determined that the Montana educator license does not adequately satisfy the requirements of NCLB. The Office of Public Instruction was informed last spring that additional data would need to be collected on all Montana educators to satisfy the requirement.

In early December 2008, all school districts received a packet of materials including guidelines on how to satisfy the data collection requirements of the federal law. Each school district has been asked to review the qualifications of every licensed educator to determine if they satisfy the federal standard. School districts will submit a status report to the Office of Public Instruction by mid January 2009.

Primarily, this requirement is directed to teachers who provide core academic classroom instruction, Title I, and Special Education Services. The federal law establishes an expectation that teachers have adequate preparation to provide instruction for students in the Core Academic Subjects as defined by NCLB. (English, Reading or Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Foreign Languages, Civics and Government, Economics, Arts, History and Geography)

Most classroom teachers in the elementary and middle schools who possess a K - 8 teaching license will satisfy the federal requirement. Teachers in the middle and high schools with a grades 5 -12 Montana teaching license will satisfy the standard if they have a college major in the content area they are teaching.

However, according to the Department of Education's recent determination, teachers in grades 5-12 with a minor in the content area they are teaching and teachers of Special Education who provide exclusive instruction to students in certain content areas must demonstrate mastery of subject content through a separate process.

For teachers in this situation, the Office of Public Instruction has created a HOUSSE (High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation.) See final page of the HQT Manual.

The Montana HOUSSE allows a teacher to choose from a checklist of experiences that are each worth a given number of points. Once a teacher has selected enough experiences to reach 100 points they have completed the HOUSSE and are deemed Highly Qualified under NCLB.

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