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:

What is being done to ensure that charter schools are hiring highly qualified teachers?

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:

Public charter schools are held to the same high standards as other public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act. This means that students must be taught by a highly qualified teacher, schools must test students in grades 3-8 in reading and math (and once in high school), and parents must be given school report cards tracking their child's progress toward grade-level proficiency. Teachers in charter schools are required to hold a bachelor's degree and demonstrate subject-matter competency, and they must follow their state's laws on certification.

The fact that charter schools have a measure of freedom from red tape should not imply that their teachers are not qualified. In many cases, it may make it easier for qualified professionals, such as engineers and mathematicians, to serve as adjunct teachers. President Bush wants to encourage this trend, and has proposed $25 million for fiscal year 2007 to encourage 30,000 professionals to become adjunct teachers in public and public charter schools.

The data shows that charter schools are a viable and high-performing alternative. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, students who attend charter schools that choose their own curriculum score higher in reading than their peers. And a Harvard University study found that charters are especially likely to raise the achievement levels of low-income students, whose teachers are less likely to be certified in the public education system.

Charter schools are no strangers to accountability. Many of them are started by educators who want more freedom to teach and to innovate. And if a charter school fails to produce, it has two choices: straighten up and improve or watch as its parents "vote with their feet" and pull their children out.

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