Lawsuit: “Highly Qualified Teacher” Rule Violates NCLB and Harms Students

A coalition of parents, students, community groups, and legal advocates sued the United States Department of Education (ED) in federal district court in San Francisco in August 2007 because it allows novice teachers in training to be considered highly qualified. The plaintiffs claim that classification of intern teachers as highly qualified harms students, especially the “large numbers of poor and minority students” served by these “intern teachers.” “A primary purpose of NCLB was to address this problem,” said one plaintiff.

Represented by Public Advocates (a public interest law firm and advocacy group) and Goodwin Procter LLP (a national law firm serving as pro bono counsel), the Renee v. Spellings plaintiffs are asking the court to void ED’s regulation as arbitrary and capricious under the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Alternative Routes to “Qualification”

At a press conference announcing the suit, plaintiffs said NCLB intends to promote teaching quality and ED has sidestepped this focus by broadening the definition of “qualified teacher” and making it easy to obtain qualification. The coalition resists the alternative route to certification that considers teachers with little or no training – brief pre-service training and on-the-job training – to be qualified. According to ED’s provision, these teachers are highly qualified on their first day on the job. Former Teach for America interns shared their accounts during the press conference, as they acknowledged that their six-week training internship was hardly a basis for teacher qualification. Nevertheless, according to ED’s definition, their qualification effectively came into play on the first day of their internships, they said.

John Affeldt, managing attorney for Public Advocates, said that “nationwide, there are tens of thousands of these interns in the classroom, although there is no way to know the exact number because states are not required to report it.”

Disproportionate Representation

Alternative routes to certification, the plaintiffs said, aggravate the achievement gap and augment disparities among students because intern teachers are generally concentrated in low-income and high minority districts. California has over 10,000 interns and over 50% of them serve in the lowest performing schools, according to the complaint. Coalition members added that across the nation students of color are more likely to be taught by non-qualified teachers, perpetrating the pervasive achievement gap between students. Moreover, the coalition concludes that if intern teachers are disproportionately placed in schools, they will not benefit from the skills of experienced teachers. Students and teachers alike are harmed by the concentration of intern teachers and the full responsibilities these interns assume, they assert.

Shortcoming the Illusion of Teacher Shortages

Some members of the coalition expressed concern over the illusion of a ‘shortage’ of qualified teachers. Although California and the United States, in general, give the impression of shortages when they label intern teachers as “qualified,” the problem they need to address is lowering the level of attrition for experienced teachers. Studies show that for the most part, there is no lack of well-prepared, certified teachers entering the teaching profession each year. The problem is the high turn-over of teachers resulting from different frustrations that emerge within the profession.

Coalition members noted that school districts across the nation are having problems retaining teachers, especially in low-income schools, and that the influx of “qualified” intern teachers, who are automatically put in the same category as veteran teachers, worsen the attrition rates of experienced teachers. Although the group said it recognizes the contributions of programs such as Teach for America, it believes that these programs do not initially produce highly qualified teachers. Therefore, instead of luring in “qualified” intern teachers, schools should invest in their staffs and strive to keep the experienced teachers that grow with their communities, according to the plaintiffs.

Low State Standards

Lastly, plaintiffs expressed concern about allowing states to create their own standards for “highly qualified” teachers. During the press conference, one parent explained how surprised she was to discover that her first-grader son was being taught by a college student and a substitute teacher, who taught two days a week. “I feel like I’m being lied to,” she said, even though she acknowledged that under ED’s regulation, this low standard is allowed.

Prepared by Marcela Briceno August 24, 2007