No Educator Left Behind:
Experienced Teachers and
Highly Qualified Provision

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:

How can experienced teachers meet the subject matter competency requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act?

U.S. Department of Education:

Experienced teachers must meet the competency requirements in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. They must have a bachelor 's degree and meet certification requirements -- which means no emergency certificates. Experienced teachers have multiple ways to demonstrate that they meet the third requirement; subject area competency. Teachers might opt to take a subject matter test developed by their state. Middle and high school teachers also might demonstrate competency if they have a major (or its equivalent) or advanced credentials in the subject they teach.

States also can use the High Objective Uniform State System of Evaluation (HOUSSE) to determine that an experienced teacher meets NCLB subject matter competency requirements. NCLB sets criteria for states to follow when designing this system for experienced teachers. The criteria:

1. are set by the state for grade-appropriate academic subject matter knowledge and teaching skills.
2. are aligned with challenging state academic content and student achievement standards and are developed in consultation with core content specialists, teachers, principals, and school administrators.
3. provide objective, coherent information about a teacher 's attainment of core content knowledge in the academic subjects in which he or she teaches.
4. are applied uniformly to all teachers in the same academic subject and the same grade level throughout the state.
5. take into consideration, but are not based primarily on, the time a teacher has been teaching the academic subject.
6. are made available to the public upon request.

The law clearly recognizes that teachers who have been in the classroom have a variety of experiences and training that can demonstrate their competency in the subjects they teach. Therefore, the HOUSSE system may involve multiple, objective measures of teacher competency. For more information about the state designed standards for HOUSSE, contact your state education agency.

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