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No Educator Left Behind is a series providing answers from the U.S. Department of Education to questions about the federal No Child Left Behind Act and how it will affect educators. If you have a question about No Child Left Behind, send an e-mail to Ellen Delisio, and we will submit your question to the Department of Education.

Question:

Can a teacher demonstrate subject-area competency in more than one subject -- such as civics and government or chemistry and physics -- by passing a single test?

U.S. Department of Education:

Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a state can assess subject-matter competency through a single test that covers more than one specialty area. In order to determine whether a teacher who passes such a test is highly qualified in all the subjects the test covers, the state would have to ensure (as it would for a single-subject test) that the test questions adequately cover each subject's content area and that the teacher has successfully answered an adequate subset of those questions.

Read previous questions and answers in our No Educator Left Behind archive.