A 'highly qualified' gift from Congress to Teach for America
Should teachers still in training programs be considered “highly qualified” to teach kids?
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that theyaren’t, but some members of Congress think so.
Senators have included in key legislation language that would allow teachers still in training to be considered “highly qualified” so they can meet a standard set in the federal No Child Left Behind law.
In an era when the education mantra is that all kids deserve great teachers, some members of Congress want it to be the law of the land that a neophyte teacher who has demonstrated “satisfactory progress” toward full state certification is “highly qualified.”
Teachers still in training programs are disproportionately concentrated in schools serving low-income students and students of color, the very
