Kill HQT ASAP

No Child Left Behind’s Highly Qualified Teachers provision deserves to die. I felt this way even before this week’s surprise ruling by the (oft-overturned) Ninth Circuit. The court invalidated a Bush Administration-era regulation that allowed Teach For America participants (and other alt cert teachers) to be considered “highly qualified” while they worked toward full state certification. This is a huge deal—and creates a serious crisis in Ninth Circuit states—for it automatically puts schools that hire TFA teachers “out of compliance” with Title I, and would require them to send letters home within a month telling parents that their kids are being taught by unqualified teachers.

Continue reading Michael Petrilli at EducationNext…