NCLB Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) Overview for



Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) Overview

Highly Qualified Teacher Definition

To be considered highly qualified under ESEA, teachers must:

▪ Possess a bachelor’s degree, and

▪ Hold full state certification, and

▪ Demonstrate subject matter competence in the subject(s) taught.

These requirements apply to all teachers of ESEA academic content areas. Teachers must meet the HQT requirement for each ESEA content area that they teach.

Teachers must have the certificate(s) that match the content and students taught.

ESEA Academic Content Areas

The ESEA academic content areas are:

▪ English

▪ Reading/language arts

▪ Mathematics

▪ Science

▪ Foreign languages

▪ Arts (defined in Delaware as music and art)

▪ History

▪ Civics/government

▪ Economics

▪ Geography.

Elementary school teachers (including regular and special education elementary school teachers, teachers of classes of gifted and talented students, and ESL/bilingual teachers who are teaching the elementary curriculum) meet the HQT requirement as elementary generalists.

Teacher Quality Survey

Teachers who fall under the HQT requirement take the on-line Teacher Quality Survey through DEEDS. After teachers complete the Survey, they print out their responses, assemble necessary documentation, and send a copy of the completed Survey and the supporting documentation to the personnel office or follow the procedure established by their district/charter school. Personnel office staff verify the Survey and documentation.

HQT Reporting

The HQT reporting to the US Department of Education is at the classroom level, that is, the number and percent of classes taught by HQTs. The credentials of the teacher, the academic content area of the class, and the students in the class all factor into the HQT decision.

For example, for a special education high school English class to be considered as taught by a highly qualified teacher, the teacher must hold a special education certificate that includes the grade taught and must demonstrate content area competence for English.

Options for Meeting the HQT Requirement

Under ESEA, the options for teachers to meet the academic content area competence requirement vary depending on their years of experience, ESEA content area taught, and the students in their classes.

The following are the options for meeting the academic content area competence requirement.

New elementary school teachers are those with less than one full year of teaching experience (that is, new to the profession). Their only option is passing Praxis II in elementary education (test 0014, Elementary Education: Content Knowledge).

Experienced elementary school teachers are those with at least one full year of teaching experience (that is, those not new to the profession). Their options are:

▪ Praxis II in elementary education, OR

▪ HOUSSE (a combination of academic course work in the elementary curriculum, pedagogy course work, professional development, and years of experience). HOUSSE is a US Department of Education acronym for High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation. Teachers must have a minimum of 18 semester credit hours in academic course work. Within these credit hours, teachers must have at least one course in reading/language arts, and science, and social studies, and mathematics. OR

▪ Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards that matches the grade taught: either early childhood generalist (K-3) or middle childhood generalist (grade 3 – 6 in an elementary school).

New teachers of art, music, and world languages in elementary schools have the same options as those for new middle and high school teachers (see this section on the following page). New teachers are those with less than one full year of teaching experience.

Experienced teachers of art, music, and world languages in elementary schools have the same options as those for experienced middle and high school teachers (see this section on the following page). Experienced teachers are those with more than one full year of teaching experience.

New middle and high school teachers of one ESEA academic content area are those with less than one full year of teaching experience (that is, new to the profession). Their options are:

▪ Praxis II in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ An academic major in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ The equivalent of an academic major (30 credit/semester hours) in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ A graduate degree in the academic content area taught.

Experienced middle and high school teachers of one ESEA academic content area are those with at least one full year of teaching experience (that is, those not new to the profession). Their options are:

▪ Praxis II in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ An academic major in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ The equivalent of an academic major (30 credit/semester hours) in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ A graduate degree in the academic content area taught, OR

▪ HOUSSE (a combination of academic course work, pedagogy course work, professional development, and years of experience), OR

▪ Certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the academic content area and the grade level taught.

Experienced middle and high school teachers using HOUSSE must have a minimum of 18 semester credit hours in the academic content area taught.

Other than a M.Ed. in reading, education degrees are not considered academic degrees; however, teachers can use relevant academic and pedagogical course work within the education degree to meet the HQT requirement.

New middle and high school teachers of more than one ESEA academic content area must take the Teacher Quality survey for each ESEA academic content area that they teach. These teachers have the same options as those who teach one academic content area. Refer to preceding information about new middle and high school teachers of one core academic content area.

Experienced middle and high school teachers who teach more than one ESEA content area have the same options as those who teach one academic content area. Refer to information above about experienced middle and high school teachers of one core academic content area.

Additionally, experienced teachers who teach more than one academic content area may use a multi-subject HOUSSE if they are HQ in one subject currently taught. Teachers For the must have a minimum of 15 semester credit hours to meet the HQT requirement.

HOUSSE Overview

|Category |Points |Comments |Maximum |

|Academic course work in the |3 points per semester credit |18 semester credit hours required. Additional |None |

|content area taught |hour |requirements for elementary teachers; see below. | |

|Pedagogy course work |3 points per semester credit |Must be appropriate for students and content area |9 semester credit hours (27|

| |hour |taught. Methods courses, practicums, student teaching |points) |

| | |do not count. | |

|Professional development |1 point per experience |Must be appropriate for students and content area |10 experiences (10 points) |

| | |taught. | |

|Teaching experience |2 points per year |Documented out-of-state teaching experience may count. |8 years (16 points) |

|Clusters (90 hours) |9 points each |Must be appropriate for students and content area |None |

| | |taught. | |

|Science Coalition Unit Courses|5 points each |Must be appropriate for students and content area |None |

| | |taught. | |

One hundred points are required to obtain the teacher quality status of highly qualified.

Elementary teachers (elementary generalists) must have a minimum of 18 semester credit hours in academic course work. Within these credit hours, teachers must have at least one course in reading/language arts, and science, and social studies, and mathematics

Academic course work is courses in the ESEA academic content areas taught (see page 1), such as art history, music theory, calculus, history of western civilization, contemporary American drama, composition, biology, and organic chemistry.

Pedagogy course work is courses in how to teach the academic content taught, assessment, human development, etc. such as educational assessment, educational psychology, human growth and development appropriate to the age level taught, instructional strategies, methods classes.

Praxis II Information

For information about Praxis II testing to meet the HQT requirement, teachers can go to: .

Or, teachers can go to the ETS website at praxis and select “Delaware” from the pull-down menu in the center of page. The pull down menu shows testing requirements by state. Also on this page are links to information about the Praxis II tests.

Grade Configuration of the School and the HQT Requirements

Classes for grades K-5 will be treated as elementary classes based on the students’ homeroom teacher. Procedures for handling students without a homeroom are presented in the detailed instructions.

Classes involving sixth graders in a school where sixth grade is the highest grade will be treated as elementary classes based on the students’ homeroom teacher.

Classes involving sixth graders in a school where there are higher grades in the school will be treated as secondary classes (i.e., middle, high, or extended grade charter) based on the students’ schedules within the Master Schedule in eSchoolPLUS.

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