Feds, teachers differ on ‘highly qualified’

Georgia teachers differ with the federal government as to how qualified they are, according to a national report released Tuesday.

While about 95 percent of Georgia’s middle and high school teachers met the federal requirement of “highly qualified,” only 65 percent of the teachers said in a survey that they had the appropriate certification, according to the study from the Education Trust, a child advocacy group.

The two percentages come from different reports completed during the 2003-04 school year, the last time the teacher survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The two reports also defined teacher quality differently.

The survey asked teachers to indicate whether they have full state certification in the subject they are assigned to teach.

The “highly qualified” label is mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act to ensure that all students have effective teachers. Congress passed the law in 2001 and allowed each state to develop its own definition of what constitutes a “highly qualified” teacher.

Georgia teachers are “highly qualified” if they have an academic degree in the subject matter they’re teaching; or if their college course work is equivalent to a major in that area; or if they pass a state content test in the subject.

Some veteran teachers also may meet the requirement through a combination of training, proven teaching experience and knowledge learned through working in the field, said Kelly Henson, executive secretary for the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certifies teachers.

Federal law requires schools to notify parents if their child’s teacher is not highly qualified.

Henson questioned the age of the data used in the study. The data was pulled during the beginning years of the new federal law and there was a lot of misunderstanding at the time, he said.

The Education Trust study acknowledged that data is several years old. The report also pointed out that different definitions of teacher quality were used for the survey and for the federal rules.

But the group concluded that the discrepancies between the teacher-reported and state-reported information warranted attention. Georgia saw a 30-point difference; gaps of at least 20 percentage points where found in 16 other states, according to the group’s study.

“Individual teachers matter a tremendous amount in how much students learn,” said Ross Wiener, who oversees policy issues at the organization.

The group said the study highlights the severity of “out-of-field teaching” —- when teachers are made to teach subjects for which they have little background or training. This occurs more often in areas where there is a teacher shortage, such as math and science.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.