Overall, nearly 97 percent of Pennsylvania\’s teachers meet the state\’s definition of “highly qualified,” according to data released by the state Department of Education earlier this week.
Locally, Bellwood-Antis scored 100 percent, while the Tyrone Area School District was slightly above the statewide figure – the district had 97.8 percent of it’s teachers fall into the “highly qualified” category.
“When we hire teachers we always look for “highly qualified teachers,” said Joann Lang, the assistant superintendent at Tyrone Area. “We have one or two teachers who must complete a certain type of test and are expected to do so this spring. Once they do then we should be at the 100 percent level for highly qualified. So, we don’t think this is an issue for us in the district.”
Lang went on to indicate the teachers are certified and the tests required is the practice (how to teach) test.
The number isn\’t quite as high in certain categories, for example charter schools and schools where most children come from low-income families.
About 94 percent of teachers in the poorer school districts meet the state\’s quality standards. In charter schools, the number fell below 50 percent in some cases.
The teacher quality report was part of the statewide “report card” released by the education department. Under the No Child Left Behind federal education law, each state is required to compile report cards no later than the end of this month.
Local school districts are required to compile district report cards and get the data to parents. The schools in Pennsylvania are using one of two ways to accomplish the goal, some have already have posted their data on the Internet and others plan to send the information by mail.
The state and local report cards include statistics on state test scores, attendance and other school quality indicators.
The statewide teacher quality data, however, was not publicly released until this week. Originally the information was scheduled to be released in November, but it was delayed when a couple of hundred school districts in the state complained data for their districts weren’t correct.
Federal laws established minimum “highly qualified” criteria for teachers. However, each state was allowed to make those criteria more stringent. State officials pointed out earlier this week Pennsylvania is among the states with more stringent standards.
The state’s Department of Education’s website defines a highly qualified teacher, according to the U. S. Department of Education, as fully certified, with a bachelor’s degree and having completed a content area major or having passed a content area test in the subject he/she is assigned to teach. In Pennsylvania, a fully certified teacher must have a bachelor’s degree, a content area major and have passed a content area test. In addition, fully certified teachers in Pennsylvania have completed pedagogical (how to teach) course work in education, including student teaching. For reporting purposes, the Department is uses the word “assignments” in lieu of “classes” so that all instructional periods reported by the school entities are matched against the Pennsylvania certificate held by each classroom teacher.
The statewide report card can be seen at www.pde.state.pa.us.
