The continued decline of high poverty schools

Out of field teaching ensures the continued decline of high poverty schools. It is shameful that we will put someone in front of a math class who does not know math, but states will not open up teacher certification to high quality routes like ABCTE - - hopefully, parents will become outraged that their students know more algebra than their teacher and demand solutions.

FROM EDTRUST
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CORE PROBLEMS: Out-of-Field Teaching Persists in Key Academic Courses, Especially in America’s High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools

WASHINGTON (November 25, 2008) – In America’s secondary schools, low-income students and students of color are about twice as likely as other students to be enrolled in core academic classes taught by out-of-field teachers, according to a report released today by The Education Trust. Out-of-field teachers are those who possess neither certification in the subject they have been assigned to teach nor an academic major in that subject.In middle and high school mathematics, for example:

· Four in ten in high-poverty schools are taught by an out-of-field teacher, compared with 16.9 percent in schools serving the fewest low-income students.

· In schools with high percentages of African-American and Latino students, nearly one-third of classes are taught by out-of-field teachers, compared with 15.5 percent in schools with relatively few minority students.

While out-of-field teaching is particularly acute in mathematics and in high-poverty and high-minority schools, the problem is pervasive. Nationwide, more than 17 percent of all core academic courses (English, math, social studies, and science) in grades 7-12 are taught by an out-of-field teacher. In the middle grades alone, the rate jumps to 40 percent.

To read the full release and report, "Core Problems," click here.