Ethnically Diverse Rural Special Educators who are Highly Qualified: Does NCLB Make this Impossible?

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Anne Prater
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Highly Qualified Teachers ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

Ethnically diverse special educators are in short supply not only in urban and suburban schools, but in rural areas as well. Finding teachers who meet the highly-qualified definition under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 worsen the shortage problem. This article addresses the impact of the definition of highly-qualified teachers on the recruitment and retention of ethnically diverse special educators and provides some suggested solutions for rural schools and districts to consider.

No Child Left Behind: A National Study of Its Impact on Special Education in Rural Schools

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalie Kossar ◽  
Katherine Mitchem ◽  
Barbara Ludlow
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Highly Qualified Teachers ◽  
National Study ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Qualified Teachers ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Impact

Under the most recent national mandates, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) and the newly reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), schools must bring virtually all students to the proficient level on state content tests within the next decade. Schools are expected to meet this challenge by employing only highly qualified teachers who are well trained to use evidence-based practices beginning next year. Serious concerns have been voiced by a variety of stakeholders about the impact of these mandates on rural schools as well as about their implications for special education services. Various stakeholders in rural areas across the country were surveyed to examine the perceived impact of the NCLBA mandates for highly qualified teachers and annual yearly progress and inform the debate on policies and practices associated with their implementation in rural schools. Results indicated that a majority of participants believed that NCLBA would have a negative impact on rural schools and that rural schools would have difficulty meeting the accountability and quality provisions of the Act in the area of special education.

The Demand for Special Education Teachers in Rural Schools Revisited: An Update on Progress

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T. Sindelar ◽  
Daisy J. Pua ◽  
Tiffany Fisher ◽  
David J. Peyton ◽  
Mary T. Brownell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Teacher Shortages ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Qualified Teacher ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact

In this commentary, we revisit “NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools,” an article we published in this journal in 2005. We consider the predictions we made then about the impact of the Highly Qualified Teacher mandate on special education teacher (SET) shortages in rural states and regions, acknowledging that we overlooked the diversity of rural areas and their differentiated needs in our original article. We then update strategies and programs for preparing, recruiting, and retaining SETs in rural schools and discuss the implications of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which has replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, for special education in rural areas. We note with optimism the resilience that rural areas have exhibited in the face of teacher shortages and see hope in recent technology applications and other context-based strategies.

High School Students' Perspectives on the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act's Definition of a Highly Qualified Teacher

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
VERONICA GARCIA ◽  
WILHEMINA AGBEMAKPLIDO ◽  
HANAN ABDELA ◽  
OSCAR LOPEZ JR. ◽  
RASHIDA REGISTE
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Highly Qualified Teacher ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
School Students ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Qualified Teacher ◽  
Definition Of

In this article, four urban high school students and their student leadership and social justice class advisor address the question, "What are high school students' perspectives on the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) definition of a highly qualified teacher?" As the advisor to the course, Garcia challenged her students to examine their high school experiences with teachers. The students offer personal stories that describe what they consider the critical qualities of teachers — qualities not based solely on the credentials and education status defined by NCLB. The authors suggest that highly qualified teachers should cultivate safe, respectful, culturally sensitive, and responsive learning communities, establish relationships with students' families and communities, express their high expectations for their students through instructional planning and implementation, and know how students learn. This article urges educators and policymakers to consider the students' voices and school experiences when making decisions about their educational needs, including the critical issue of teacher quality.

scholarly journals Teacher Retention in a Teacher Resiliency-Building Rural School

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Malloy ◽  
Tawannah Allen
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Teacher Retention ◽  
Rural School ◽  
Highly Qualified Teachers ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Qualified Teachers ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Teacher Resiliency

This article focuses on the challenge of teacher retention in rural schools in relation to the No Child Left Behind mandate, that school districts must attract and retain highly qualified teachers. This case study examines the extent to which a rural school enhanced teacher retention by overcoming the barriers that might otherwise have presented a challenge to teacher retention. Findings from this study suggest that the nurturing the nurturers concept, inherent in teacher resiliency-building schools, enhances teacher retention strategies.  

Perceptions of Students and Educators on the Impact of No Child Left Behind: Some Will and Some Won't

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy E. Harriman
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Impact

How do students and educators perceive the No Child Left Behind law and its impact? The author reports on structured interviews with 15 staff members K-12 and 37 middle level students in a small, northeastern coastal community. The responses of students included three themes: fairness to subgroups, student effort and self-determination, and apprehensions about changing schools. Issues identified by teachers, special educators and administrators included: desirable effects of accountability; concerns about fairness to students with disabilities and diverse learning needs; conflicts between state and federal requirements; and negative effects on teaching, learning and allocation of resources. Most respondents recommended that the law be amended to achieve the original intent. Of particular relevance to special educators in small or rural schools is the overall challenge identified by educators of finding time to balance the often apparently competing demands of existing initiatives such as individualized instruction, curriculum of place, community involvement, and development of functional skills, with the additional bureaucratic and assessment related demands required by No Child Left Behind.

scholarly journals Creating Highly Qualified Teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn L. Mollenkopf
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Highly Qualified Teachers ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Rural Teachers ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Qualified Teacher ◽  
Practicum Experiences ◽  
Provisional Certification ◽  
The University

The “highly qualified teacher” requirement of No Child Left Behind has put pressure on rural school districts to recruit and retain highly qualified regular and special education teachers. If necessary, they may utilize uncertified, rural teachers with provisional certification; however, these teachers may find completing the necessary certification difficult due to time, distance, and geographic barriers. The University of Nebraska at Kearney has been able to address this need by: (1) creating access to the university’s certification program, (2) providing professional supports, (3) tailoring assignments, projects, and field based practicum experiences and (4) building capacity for rural teachers who have completed certification to mentor others in their regions.  

scholarly journals The Quality and Distribution of Teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A Hanushek ◽  
Steven G Rivkin
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Highly Qualified Teachers ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Qualified Teachers ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Future Research Agenda

The main effects of No Child Left Behind on the quality of teaching are likely to come through two provisions of the act. First, NCLB establishes benchmarks based on test score pass rates that schools must meet in order to remain in good standing and avoid sanctions. Since teachers are central to student performance, this accountability component of NCLB is likely to have direct effects on both the demand for and supply of teachers and therefore on both the composition of the stock of public school teachers and the distribution of those teachers among schools. Second, NCLB explicitly requires districts to have “highly qualified” teachers, and the enunciation and enforcement of such a standard might have an additional effect on the composition of teachers. We will discuss three avenues by which these requirements might affect the quality of teachers. First, we will argue that the requirements for “highly qualified” teachers are unlikely to have had any perceptible effect on the performance of students. Second, the combination of quality requirements and the more-stringent testing environment could make teaching appear more costly and risky as a profession and thus alter the composition of new entrants, but at least so far, we find no evidence of such effects. Finally, the accountability provisions might change the dynamics of the labor market for teachers, including decisions about hiring and job separation. While not completely understood, this channel might be quite important, especially at low-performing schools where the stress of the accountability requirements is highest. We will provide new evidence from Texas on the relationship between school accountability ratings and teacher transitions both out of schools and out of grades three through eight, the grades subject to NCLB testing requirements. Finally, we offer some observations about potential policy implications and a future research agenda.

scholarly journals The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Dee ◽  
Brian A. Jacob
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Impact
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