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No Child Left Behind:
Highly Qualified Teachers

Frequently Asked Questions

The federal No Child Left Behind legislation places a strong emphasis on having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. This objective matches the State Board of Education goal of having a caring, competent and qualified teacher in every classroom. NCLB defines a highly qualified teacher as one that is fully licensed by the state and endorsed in the subject area with no licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary or provisional basis and who demonstrates competence in the content areas taught. The following information clarifies what is required in Kansas to be designated as highly qualified. Please be aware of the following:

• Any newly hired teachers of core academic areas (e.g., English, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, social studies, economics, arts, history and geography) teaching in a program supported with Title I Part A funds (e.g., all teachers in a schoolwide and all teachers funded with Title I in targeted assistance schools) must meet these requirements now.
• All other teachers including those in non-Title I schools have until June 30, 2006, to meet these requirements.
• New Kansas teachers licensed under the state's new licensure system (effective July 1, 2003) will meet the highly qualified criteria based on achieving a passing score (set September 1, 2005) on a content assessment in all endorsement areas.

Specifically, in Kansas, a highly qualified veteran teacher must have a bachelor's degree and a Kansas teaching certificate or license. Additional criteria, such as content area knowledge, must be used to demonstrate competence. In Kansas, almost 95% of our educators hold a license to teach which requires at a minimum, a bachelor's degree. Additionally, and based on a KSDE review of teacher's credentials, we also know that most of our currently practicing licensed teachers have already demonstrated competence because they hold an endorsement, have a graduate level degree, or have completed an approved program.

As a result, KSDE is not going to require that every teacher complete a rubric to ensure they are highly qualified. However, there are two groups of teachers who will need to have their qualifications verified, as specified below. These two groups include any teacher who is "kicked out" of the Licensed Personnel Report prepared by KSDE's Teacher Education and Licensure team as well as any teacher who holds an elementary certificate and is assigned to teach a core content area in the middle or junior high school. For these two groups, the following criteria must be reviewed and assured to have been met. Specifically, demonstrated competence for highly qualified staff in Kansas includes the following:

A. If elementary, and teaching in an elementary school:

--A bachelor's degree, and

--A KS teaching certificate or license, and one of the following

• National Board Certification or
• 100 points on the Kansas rubric (attached to this e-mail) which allows teachers to demonstrate they are highly qualified through a combination of years of experience, coursework, and professional development.

B. If middle /secondary:

--A bachelor's degree, and

--KS teaching certificate or license, and one of the following

• National Board Certification or
• 100 points on the Kansas rubric which allows teachers to demonstrate they are highly qualified through a combination of years of experience, coursework, and professional development.

updated 4/1/05

Frequently Asked Questions:
Highly Qualified Middle/Junior High School Teachers

• Is a middle school teacher with only an elementary endorsement who is assigned to teach a specific content/subject area considered to be highly qualified?

It depends. A highly qualified teacher must possess at least three things: a bachelor's degree, a KS teaching certificate and one additional indicator. The additional indicator may be either of the following: has National Board Certification or has at least 100 points on the Kansas Content Area Rubric.

• What does it mean for a middle/junior high school teacher to be "endorsed at the level to which they have been assigned?"

Any middle school teacher assigned to teach a specific content/subject area who is operating only on an elementary endorsement is endorsed to teach elementary content, not specific subject matter content. A teacher holding a middle/high school teaching license, also includes a content specific endorsement such as mathematics or science. As a result, a middle/junior high school teacher assigned to teach a specific content area, under an elementary endorsement, is not necessarily highly qualified to teach middle/junior high content. To ensure these educators are highly qualified, some other indicator, including the use of the rubric, will need to be used for verification.

• Do all teachers who have a K-9 certificate have to complete the Kansas Content Area Rubric?

No, not all of them will have to complete the rubric. If they are teaching in a self-contained classroom at the elementary level, they are highly qualified because they have the content endorsement at that level. If teaching in a middle level content area under a K-9 certificate they will need to complete the rubric. If they cannot achieve 100 points on the rubric, they'll need to do professional development work in their content area or take college courses to bring their points up to 100. Please note that they have until 2005-2006 to achieve the highly qualified status.

• The Kansas Content Area Rubric includes service to the content area as well as awards, presentations, and publications. For the middle/junior high school teacher trying to verify subject matter knowledge, must the service, award or conference attendance be related to the content area?

Yes, it should be related to the content area. The purpose of determining whether a person is highly qualified is to ensure teachers have the breadth and depth knowledge of the content area to which they have been assigned to teach. If the teacher is attending a middle school conference, attendance at sessions specific to their assigned content area would be applicable. In terms of being recognized as a teacher of the year, it is assumed that they are being recognized for their ability to teach their content area (e.g., their ability to teach middle school mathematics). Also, if a teacher serves on an interdisciplinary team either to represent their content area or because of their expertise in their content area, it would apply.