What does the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) say about teachers?
According to NCLB, teachers must be “highly qualified.” To teach elementary school, they need a bachelor’s degree and must pass a rigorous test in core curriculum areas. To teach middle or high school, they must be certified in the subjects they teach by passing a test, or by completing an academic major, teaching credential program or comparable coursework. The law has caused administrators to focus more on recruiting efforts, particularly for hard-to-staff schools, and to focus on assigning teachers to classes in their areas of expertise. However, the law has also had some unintended consequences for some experienced teachers without the proper credentials. For example, Jefferds Huyck, a Latin teacher with a doctorate in classics from Harvard University and a teacher for 22 years in high school and college, is not considered “highly qualified” under NCLB because he doesn’t have a teaching credential. Along with two other teachers with doctorates at Pacific Collegiate Charter School i
