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No Child Left Behind Update

How does "HQ" (Highly Qualified) impact a new teaching assignment?

"Tis the season - for new assignments. How does the Federal requirement for Highly Qualified (HQ) relate to those decisions? What can you (or can't you) be required or asked to do in taking a new assignment?

As usual, there is not a simple answer to the question, so read on.

Anyone who holds proper endorsement for the assignment is legally qualified to teach in Kansas. You can see allowable endorsements and assignments where you'll find the Licensed Personnel Guide and Licensed Personnel Users Guide.

Highly qualified is an additional requirement imposed by the Federal government and pretty much unrelated to Kansas qualifications. As you probably know, the Federal law, ESEA/NCLB, requires that teachers in core content areas be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. (The US Department of Education just issued some "clarifications" that change that date to the '06-'07 school year in certain instances.)

If your assignment next year is different from your assignment this year, you may need to complete the Kansas Rubric to determine your HQ status. You can see that rubric at http://www.ksde.org/cert/hq.htm

You should not need to complete the rubric until your assignment is reported to KSDE on the 2004-2005 principal's building report. When it is received by KSDE in October or so, THEY will contact YOU about needing to complete the rubric. Don't do anything until you hear from them - except perhaps a trial run on the rubric to see what you might need to do to hit 100 points. That could guide some of your professional development decisions this summer and next school year.

If you don't get 100 points now, all you need to do is develop a plan on how you will get to 100 by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. The plan can include activities in any of the five rubric categories. And remember, each year of teaching in the content area earns 9 points.

Teachers -- you do not have to take any college classes unless you cannot get at least 45 points in the content column. And, you can earn points in the coursework area with extended workshops, too.

You must earn 100 points on the rubric to be considered HQ. Those points come from any combination of previous experience in the content area, courses you may have taken (at any time at any place) in the content area (you must get 45 points - 15 credit hours - in this area), professional development, service to the content area, and awards in the content area. The instruction sheet at the website above is very important for understanding all the possible things that count toward the rubric, especially in the college coursework area. Once you've hit 100 points, you can stop.

If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to contact your UniServ Director or the KNEA Instructional Advocacy office at KNEA.

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