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
  endorsement meets 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 subject12.5 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 years 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 dont 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 bachelors 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
  teachers 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.