Teachers in one out of five classes are not qualified under federal law to instruct the more than 870,000 students in Maryland. And that?s good when the state is compared to dozens of other states and the District of Columbia, where officials are still scrambling to meet the strict teaching requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
“We have 80 percent of our classes now taught by highly qualified teachers. Just two years ago, that number was 67 percent,” said State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick. “But make no mistake about it ? this will be a difficult goal for Maryland or any state to reach, but it is an important goal that we will work hard to reach.”
Teachers once deemed qualified to instruct children are now faced with increased pressure and possible termination, as in Baltimore City where 35 teachers were fired this year, to meet the new federal criteria.
“You have some teachers saying, ?I?m a 30-year veteran who has won awards, but I?m not qualified?? ” said Dan Kaufman, spokesman for the Maryland State Teachers Association, which represents about 65,000 teachers, education professionals, and administrators across the state.
Linda Dugan, a math teacher at Lime Kiln Middle School in Fulton, has been teaching for 35 years, and she?s considered highly qualified, but she said the law?s requirement of huge amounts of paperwork is too much for teachers.
“The amount of time that a teacher has to spend on paperwork is overwhelming,” she said.
Nina Martin, a first-grade teacher at Atholton Elementary School in Columbia, has been teaching for eight years and is also highly qualified under the law.
Martin said she doesn?t object to having teachers become more educated, but she said federal education officials should do more to help teachers meet the law?s requirements.
“I find the law burdensome because they haven?t given us the revenues to achieve the goals of the law,” Martin said.
Maryland is not alone in failing to meet the highly qualified goal. School systems nationwide did not meet the federal goal of having 100 percent of their classes taught by highly qualified teachers by the end of the 2004-05 school year.
States had to submit revised plans to the federal education department in July, and Maryland was among nine states noted for its “good faith effort” toward meeting the goal.
The federal education department requires states to meet six criteria in their plans, including reporting data to the public regarding the percentage of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers and the percentage of highly qualified teachers instructing poor and minority children.
The District of Columbia and Virginia are among 39 states that partially met criteria outlined by the department. They must submit revisions by the end of this month. Four states ? Hawaii, Missouri, Utah and Wisconsin ? did not meet any of the requirements and must provide monthly progress reports to the department.
States achieving highly qualified status
Most states have reported having about 80 percent to 90 percent of classes taught by highly qualified teachers, said Rene Islas, chief of staff of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the federal Department of Education.
“What we?ve asked them to do is set up bold new initiatives and bold new steps to get closer to that goal,” he said.
In Maryland, the number is up less than 5 percentage points from 75.4 percent to 80 percent in the 2004-05 school year.
Under the law, highly qualified teachers must have a minimum of a bachelor?s degree, hold state certification and demonstrate knowledge of basic academic areas such as English, math and science through standardized tests and teaching experience.
The requirement only applies to public schools.
States have one more year to reach the goal or face consequences that could include losing federal grant money.
To meet the objective, John Smeallie, assistant state superintendent for the Division of Certification and Accreditation, said the state?s 24 school systems offer teachers various incentives, including tuition reimbursements and salary bonuses, to combat high teacher turnover throughout the state.
“It?s difficult to staff some of these key areas such as math and special education,” Smeallie said.
In North Carolina, for example, an annual salary bonus of $1,800 is awarded to highly qualified teachers who teach in schools that have not met the goal, Islas said.
Smeallie said Maryland isn?t taking the law for granted.
“We?re taking No Child Left Behind very seriously, and we?re following every letter of the law,” he said.
Grading the districts
If the federal government handed out grades to those districts making strides under the No Child Left Behind Act, Howard, Carroll and Harford counties earned a B-plus. Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties scored a solid B. As for Baltimore City ? it flunked for ranking dead last in the state.
The city currently has 46.8 percent of its classes taught by teachers considered “highly qualified” as required under federal law.
In comparison, Harford had the highest rating in the Baltimore region, with 89.3 percent of its classes taught by highly qualified teachers.
Those districts with the most highly qualified teachers also excelled recently on the standardized tests, such as the SAT and Maryland School Assessments.
Harford County schools offer tutoring to teachers preparing to take the state tests for certification and tuition assistance and certification credit for more experienced teachers taking extra courses in lieu of testing, said Superintendent Jacqueline Haas.
In Baltimore City, teachers are fired for not making the grade. Gary Thrift, the city school system human resources officer, said teachers receive warnings, have their salaries frozen and are fired for not meeting highly qualified status.
“We terminated 35 out of 300 teachers this year,” Thrift said.
As for recruitment, Thrift said 92 percent of more than 1,000 new teachers hired this year are highly qualified, compared with 62 percent last year.
“This [year?s] recruitment has been a tremendous success for the Baltimore City schools,” Thrift said. For instance, he said 119 highly qualified teachers have been hired from the Philippines, up from 109 last year.
HOWARD SPREADING THE WORD
Lois Witte, certification, licensure and accountability manager for the Howard school system, said officials have stepped up communication with teachers about the requirements of the law.
“We?ve been making presentations and giving as much information as possible about what it means to be a highly qualified teacher,” she said.
This year, Howard?s classes taught by highly qualified teachers increased by 4.8 percentage points.
To increase the number of highly qualified teachers, Witte said the system also pays for state standardized tests and offers tuition reimbursements for teachers.
CARROLL STRESSES SCREENING NEW HIRES
Last school year, 89.2 percent of classes were taught by highly qualified teachers in Carroll.
Jimmie Saylor, director of human resources for Carroll County Public Schools, said new hires are closely reviewed to see what it will take to ensure that the teacher can become certified.
Many are highly qualified, but many also come from out of state and need to receive their Maryland certificate.
School officials also plan to meet with new hires to ensure they are enrolled in the proper professional development programs to reach highly qualified status, Saylor said.
ANNE ARUNDEL CONDUCTS INTERNATIONAL SEARCH
Vanessa Bass, senior manager of recruiting and staffing for Anne Arundel, said the district has highly qualified teachers teaching about 85 percent of all core classes.
She said the district has concentrated its hiring efforts on colleges that graduate highly qualified teachers, and this year began searching internationally.
The district will welcome 16 middle and high school math and science teachers from the Philippines this year.
But Bass said international recruiting should not be the “golden cow” to satisfy the need for highly qualified teachers.
Tim Mennuti, president of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, said the school district has made significant progress in hiring highly qualified teachers.
“But they have to solve the workload problems in special education and high schools,” he said. “And we are just now starting down the path to solve the pay problems. And that?s OK as long as the surrounding counties don?t raise their salaries again.”
Anne Arundel teachers negotiated a new, three-year contract with the school district this year that will give teachers a 6 percent pay raise for each of the next three years.
Those pay increases were designed to bring Anne Arundel teacher salaries up to par with surrounding jurisdictions.
Before this year, Anne Arundel ranked 13th in the state in starting teacher salaries, Mennuti said.
BALTIMORE COUNTY STRESSES BACKGROUND CHECKS
In Baltimore County, officials go the extra mile to make sure they are hiring highly qualified teachers, said Donald Peccia, assistant superintendent for human resources and governmental relations for the school system.
“We conduct thorough background checks,” he said.
Other initiatives include increasing tuition reimbursements and working with the state to help career-changers, such as engineers, become highly qualified to teach in the school system.
Examiner Staff Writers Tawanda W. Johnson, Stephanie Tracy, Matt Santoni and Sara Michael contributed to this report.
Basic certification requirements for new teachers in Md.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
» Bachelor?s degree or higher from an approved in-state or out-of-state teacher education program
» Pass state Praxis I and II tests, which measure basic skills, content and pedagogy
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
» Bachelor?s degree or higher from an approved in-state or out-of-state teacher education program
» Catechist certification in theology or 10 hours of coursework for non-Catholics
» Youth ministry certification for middle and high school teachers
SPECIAL EDUCATION
» Bachelor?s degree from an accredited in-state or out-of-state teacher education program.
Certificates for special education are required for:
» Infant/primary (birth to grade 3) and elementary/middle (grades 1 to 8): 45 credits of education courses related to special education teaching methods and assessment
» Secondary/adult (grades 6 to 12): 39 credits of education courses related to special education teaching methods and assessment
Specific requirements for special education certificates, including certification for teaching students with hearing and visual impairments as well as severe disabilities are detailed by state regulations: COMAR 13A.12.02.20 through 13A.12.02.24.
Source: Joann Ericson, chief of certification for the Maryland State Department
of Education; Code of Maryland Regulations; Ronald Valenti, executive director of Baltimore Catholic Schools
