Theater of the absurd

Montana Teachers of the Year not "highly qualified"
by NCLB standards

Alyson Mike has earned National Board Certification, America's highest level of certification for a teacher. She's a Presidential Award winner for excellence in teaching science. And she's Montana's 2004 Teacher of the Year.

But according to the so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB), because she doesn't have a major in every science course she teaches, she's not "highly qualified" to teach,

Nor is 2003 Teacher of the Year Jon Runnalls of Helena. Nor is 2002 Teacher of the Year Judie Woodhouse of Polson. Nor are hundreds of Montana elementary teachers successfully working every day in Montana's middle schools. Nor are hundreds of middle and high school science and social studies teachers with "broadfield" endorsements in their teaching subjects.

"This points out one of the worst absurdities of the NCLB Act," said MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver. "The act's goals are noble, but many of its strategies are senseless."

Mike, a science teacher at East Valley Middle School in East Helena, has a degree in biology. She also teaches physical science and chemistry. Although she has minors in those subjects, NCLB doesn't recognize her as qualified to teach them.

Linda McCulloch's line in the sand
"Fortunately, Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch has correctly concluded that Montana's certification and endorsement process produces highly qualified teachers," Feaver said.

In September, McCulloch submitted Montana's definition of a "highly qualified teacher" to the U.S. Department of Education. In that plan, she said, "Montana teachers meet the definition of highly qualified teachers if they are licensed and endorsed in the areas in which they teach."

"We don't know yet what the U.S. Department of Education thinks about Superintendent McCulloch's line in the sand," Feaver said. "If department officials look at the facts, they will have to conclude that Montana's process works just fine. We have science teachers all over Montana teaching with a broadfield endorsement. These teachers have produced top student achievement in national and international science scores. The results speak for themselves."

NCLB misleads Montanans
Speaking at the Montana Teacher Forum in September, McCulloch said, "Montana has some of the finest teachers in the country. For years, other states have actively recruited our new teaching graduates and veteran teachers."

With NCLB, McCulloch said, "the qualifications of Montana teachers will be questioned, misleading Montanans to believe that large numbers of their local schools and educators are not up to performing their jobs. This is an insult to Montana and simply not true."
The NCLB Act requires "highly qualified'' teachers to be in every classroom by the 2005-2006 school year. That means teachers such as Mike will have to earn more degrees, pass a rigorous test in each subject, or teach only the subject in which they have a major.

It also means special education teachers who work with students in math, social studies, science, and language arts would need to hold a degree or major in each of those subjects or pass a rigorous test in each of these areas. Given distances to travel to attend college, teacher salaries, and levels of school funding, Montana simply cannot meet this federal definition.

"It means Montana schools, which already are strapped for cash, must somehow find hundreds of new teachers with the 'right' qualifications," Feaver said. "How will they afford to do that?"

McCulloch said she is "gratified by the support I have received from Governor Martz and Montana education organizations in taking our case to the U.S. Department of Education and Congress."

The Department of Education is under considerable pressure from many states to show flexibility in the "highly qualified teacher" requirements, she said. "We will await the USDE's response to Montana's definition."

See Lee newspaper article and Independent Record editorial that follow.

State's top teacher not 'highly qualified'

By ALLISON FARRELL - IR State Bureau - 10/29/03

HELENA - Montana's newest Teacher of the Year recently won the state's top education award, but she's still not ''highly qualified'' by federal standards.

Alyson Mike, a science teacher from East Valley Middle School in East Helena, was recently named Montana's 2004 Teacher of the Year, but her credentials don't match new teacher standards laid out by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

State education officials are hoping that meetings later this year with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education can reach an accommodation so Montana's current teacher standards can remain in place.

Members of the federal Teacher Assistance Corps from the U.S. Department of Education are visiting Nov. 18 to discuss the ''highly qualified teacher'' component of the No Child Left Behind act and U.S. Undersecretary of Education Eugene Hickok, who was originally scheduled to visit Montana Nov. 13, is visiting the state Dec. 12.

''The overriding purpose of the visit is so people can understand the implementation of the law,'' said Chuck Butler, Gov. Judy Martz's spokesman. ''You've got to make some accommodations for rural America.''

Many rural states like Montana object to the new teacher requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act, specifically the section that mandates teachers have a degree or pass a rigorous test in each area they teach.

Part of this law says that science teachers who have one degree but teach multiple science subjects are not ''highly qualified.'' Mike takes the law to mean that her biology degree doesn't qualify her to teach physical science, even though she has minors in physics and chemistry.

Mike said the law is unfair and holds teachers up to higher standards than many other professions.

''Realistically, the president of the United States should have a degree in law,'' Mike said. ''He doesn't. Is he highly qualified?''

Mike, who has taught for 17 years, is not only the 2004 Montana Teacher of the Year, but also the 2002 winner of a presidential award for science teaching. Although President Bush signed that award, Mike pointed out that he now considers her ''unqualified.''

The new federal law requires ''highly qualified'' teachers to be in every classroom by the 2005-2006 school year. That means teachers such as Mike, who teach multiple subjects in their field or who teach outside their field, will have to earn more degrees or restrict their teaching to their established subject.

The only way for teachers to get around the degree requirement is to demonstrate their competency by taking an as-yet undetermined test in each subject they teach. At Mike's school in East Helena, only two teachers on the staff of 25 meet the standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act, Mike said.

She went on to say that the law is unnecessary, since good teachers need good teaching skills, not a pile of degrees.

''I think it's important to have the content knowledge,'' Mike said. ''But being a teacher is a lot more than knowing your content.''

The spokesman for the state Office of Public Instruction said the federal requirements are not only unnecessary but are financially impossible for rural schools. Many school districts cannot afford to hire more science teachers, spokesman Joe Lamson said.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch last month asked the federal government to let Montana continue licensing teachers as it always has, complete with a broad fields degree endorsement that gives teachers the broad knowledge they need to teach in all the sciences.

While many other states have asked for flexibility with No Child Left Behind, no state has heard back from Washington, Lamson said. Officials from the U.S. Department of Education did not return phone calls seeking comment this week.

The federal representatives coming to Montana later this year probably won't be able to grant Montana exceptions to the federal law, but state officials are hoping they will see first-hand how the ''one-size-fits-all law'' doesn't work in Montana and other rural states.

''It's easy to talk with people over the phone, but it's a lot different when they're here to talk with people,'' Butler said.

When is a teacher qualified?

Editorial, Helena IR - 10/30/03

While almost everybody agrees with the broad goals of the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act, the details - and the funding levels - remain controversial.
Hardly any part of the 1,200-page measure has escaped criticism that its standards are unreasonably arbitrary.

Much of the debate has targeted student testing or declarations about whether this or that school is unsafe. But in rural areas like Montana the main concern has been teacher qualifications.
The act requires that all teachers be "highly qualified" by the 2005-2006 school year. That basically means that teachers must hold a degree in the precise subject they are teaching.

Montana school officials, like their counterparts in other rural states, have rightly pointed out that small districts with teachers who teach multiple subjects can't afford - or couldn't attract - such "highly qualified" educators. Montana officials will discuss the matter with their federal counterparts when they visit here later this year.

In the meantime, Montana educators upset about the new standards have come up with an excellent poster child to help make their case. In a story practically drooling with irony this week, the IR State Bureau pointed out that Montana's Teacher of the Year for 2004 isn't "highly qualified" under the new rules.

Alyson Mike, a science teacher at East Valley Middle School in East Helena, holds a degree in biology. But Mike, who was a 2002 winner of a presidential award for science teaching as well, also teaches physical science. Sorry, by definition she's not a highly qualified teacher.

Nobody disputes the importance of teachers knowing their subjects, but the spectacle of a highly respected, award-winning teacher being deemed less than highly qualified for her job provides a compelling argument against the one-size-fits-all nature of the federal rules.

Anyone who has gone to school knows that a teacher's classroom skills are at least as important as how many degrees he or she has earned. A federal law that fails to recognize that fact is arbitrary on its face.