HQ Teachers

1. HQ Teachers Professional Development Guidance

2. TSR Reporting • In fall of 2006 TSR was modified to show up to 7 subject assignments per teacher. • In any core subject the teacher must be HQ • True of special ed, bilingual and ESL teachers • Used to report data required by the DE • Used to show who is and is not HQ • Districts must ensure the data is entered accurately.

3. HQ Requirements • Elementary Teachers (K-5): Full certificate and pass a state exam or go through HOUSSE (100 pts. Total) • Secondary Teachers (6-12): Test, major, advanced degree, Master certificate, or HOUSSE in each subject. • Special Ed teachers: Meet requirements of IDEA and NCLB • Consultative vs Content (teacher of record)

4. Special Education Teachers • Consultative: do not give the grade; must have a full special ed certificate or a full regular certificate and must have passed the special ed exam • Elementary or secondary certificate with endorsementmeets the requirement • Approvals and emergency certificate do not.

5. Special Education Teachers • IDEA: content teachers must have a full special education endorsement and must meet the NCLB requirements for the children served and must be HQ in each subject they teach.

6. Special Education Teachers • The federal government is pushing, via least restrictive environment and its distinction of special education consultative versus content teachers and content teachers’ requirement to be subject matter HQ, the elimination of persons trained as pure special educators.

7. Special Education Teachers • It appears the goal is either to have all teachers who graduate trained as special educators with core content specializations or to require team teaching between a content teacher and a special educator to adapt the content to the needs of special education children in the same classroom. • Having two teachers per classroom would be expensive • HOUSSE will likely be eliminated as an option

8. Special Education • Therefore Illinois will likely be required to change either the way that all teachers are trained or the way special educators are employed. • Possible: All new graduates could be trained as special educators and in a content area • Persons trained as K-12 special ed would be consultants to teachers

9. HOUSSE • HOUSSE is still open for teachers with at least one year of experience - Regarded by feds and observers to be the weakest evidence of subject matter competence • Feds may shut it off on NCLB re-authorization • Therefore professional development to meet HQ may not be viable for long

10. HOUSSE • Elementary (K-5) teachers need to accumulate 100 points • All other teachers need 100 points in each subject • All HOUSSE submissions must be explicitly related to the subject • Half the points can come through experience; 1 semester teaching the subject=12.5 points • Any coursework completed in the subject is worth 5 points per semester hour • HOUSSE requirements are available on the web under “rules in effect”, Part 25 Certification, Appendix D.

11. HOUSSE • Faced with an elimination of HOUSSE in the next year, teachers may wish to pursue a more aggressive method of becoming HQ rather than moving through the minimal requirements of HOUSSE • Accumulating a major • Passing a test • Obtaining a higher degree in a subject • Getting a Master Certificate in a subject

12. District Plans • The IL state plan filed with ED requires each district to file with the regional superintendent a general plan for its teachers who are not HQ in their core subjects to move them to HQ within a two year period. • The plan must list the number of teachers , subjects and percentages where they are not HQ • The plan must list the classes and their percentage that are not taught by HQ teachers

13. District Plans • The district must list the schools and the names of teachers in each who are not highly qualified, subjects where they are not HQ and provide a general plan of remediation. • The basis of the report is the prior year’s NHQT report run from IWAS and, for this year only, will be a duplicate of the report filed last year. • All NHQ teachers must become HQ within 2 years • Any district with no NHQ teachers needs only to report that they had none.

14. Equity Plan • Federal Law: Each district must ensure that poor and minority students are not taught at a higher rate by NHQ teachers or inexperienced teachers than are other students. • Each district must have a plan to accomplish this • Inexperienced means three years or less experience.

15. Equity Plan • The plan must be kept on file at the district office and must show the explicit measures the district is taking to remedy any difference in the access to HQ and experienced teachers by poor and minority students. • Districts will be monitored by ROEs and ISBE to ensure the plans are being followed and completed.

16. State Law (105 ILCS 5/10‑20.39)     Sec. 10‑20.39. Highly qualified teachers; No Child Left Behind Act funds. If a school district has an overall shortage of highly qualified teachers, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107‑110), or a shortage of highly qualified teachers in the subject area of mathematics, science, reading, or special education, then the school board must spend at least 40% of the money it receives from Title 2 grants under the Act on recruitment and retention initiatives to assist in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers… .

17. Teacher Road Map to HQ • The Plan also requires each teacher who is not HQ to have a plan, the “Roadmap” filed with the district showing what they intend to do in each core subject to become HQ • The plan requires a specific outline of the means by which the teacher will become HQ within two years, with benchmarks indicated and funding sources specified. • District are expected to provide financial and other support to meet the goal • Each fall the number of not HQ teachers is expected to show a decline.

18. Recording HQ • Educator Certification System (ECS) on Agency website shows all the subjects we know about where the teacher is HQ based on our records. • Teachers can add things we don’t know about • Teachers can use the union worksheets to reach a conclusion • Teachers must keep records to show how they reached their conclusion and the proof of each • We will audit at several levels (required by federal rules)

19. Bilingual and ESL • Bilingual teachers holding only a type 29 are not HQ • Must have a full certificate for the grade level and meet the NCLB requirements for the subject. • ESL teachers teach English and must meet the requirements for the subject at the grade level and must hold the full certificate. • If the teacher uses ESL as a means of teaching other core subjects, they must be HQ in those subjects and be reported as teaching them on the TSR

20. Bilingual and ESL • Bilingual teachers with a 29 can be considered HQ for three years from the date of employment if they • Have a bachelor’s degree • Are enrolled in an approved program leading to a full certificate in the time period • Have passed the content test (not a language test) required for the certification program • Are receiving HQ professional development and mentoring from the district.

21. Audits • Audits will occur at several levels based on TSR reports • ROE district visits • ISBE audits • NCLB Audits at time of certificate renewal audits. • Any teacher found to be not HQ when claimed or in a different assignment than claimed will need to become HQ within a 2 year period.

22. Federal PD Requirements PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT — The term professional development (A) includes activities that (i) improve and increase teachers’ knowledge of the academic subjects the teachers teach, and enable teachers to become highly qualified; (ii) are an integral part of broad school wide and district wide educational improvement plans; (iii) give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging State academic content standards and student academic achievement standards; (iv) improve classroom management skills;

23. Federal PD Requirements (v) (I) are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom; and (II) are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences; (vi) support the recruiting, hiring, and training of highly qualified teachers, including teachers who became highly qualified through State and local alternative routes to certification; (vii) advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are (I) based on scientifically based research; and (II) strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers; and

24. Federal PD Requirements (viii) are aligned with and directly related to • (I) State academic content standards, student academic achievement standards, and assessments; and • (II) the curricula and programs tied to the standards described in subclause (I) except that this subclause shall not apply to activities described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 2123(3)(B);

25. Federal PD Requirements (ix) are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, parents, and administrators of schools to be served under this Act; (x) are designed to give teachers of limited English proficient children, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and appropriate language and academic support services to those children, including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments; (xi) to the extent appropriate, provide training for teachers and principals in the use of technology so that technology and technology applications are effectively used in the classroom to improve teaching and learning in the curricula and core academic subjects in which the teachers teach;

26. Federal PD Requirements (xii) as a whole, are regularly evaluated for their impact on increased teacher effectiveness and improved student academic achievement, with the findings of the evaluations used to improve the quality of professional development; (xiii) provide instruction in methods of teaching children with special needs; (xiv) include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice; and (xv) include instruction in ways that teachers, principals, pupil services personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents; and

27. Federal PD Requirements (B) may include activities that • (i) involve the forming of partnerships with institutions of higher education to establish school-based teacher training programs that provide prospective teachers and beginning teachers with an opportunity to work under the guidance of experienced teachers and college faculty;

28. Federal PD Requirements (ii) create programs to enable paraprofessionals (assisting teachers employed by a local educational agency receiving assistance under part A of title I) to obtain the education necessary for those paraprofessionals to become certified and licensed teachers; and (iii) provide follow-up training to teachers who have participated in activities described in subparagraph (A) or another clause of this subparagraph that are designed to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom.